Content

Content is what teachers want students to learn from a particular segment of study, or the materials or mechanisms through which students gain access to important information.

The information and ideas students grapple with to reach the learning goals.

Content is the knowledge, understanding, and skills we want students to learn. During differentiation we emphasize the methods that students use to access key content (i.e. independent reading, partner reading, text on tape, text with images, listening comprehension, online research, communication with experts, group demonstrations, small group instruction) rather than change the content itself (Tomlinson & McTighe, 2006). There are instances, however, when some students need to go back to prerequisite content in order to move ahead before their classrooms are ready to do so, and when student Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) direct the teacher to change the content itself.