In my early days of teaching, getting it “right for every child” meant I spent most evenings thinking of how I could “dumb down” the content that I was delivering. I had one particularly challenging group, in which the pupils had a variety of learning needs. It was a melting pot of English as an additional language, low reading levels, dyslexia and autism, combined with high testosterone.

In an early observation, I was challenged to think about how I could support every learner. “Have you thought of creating differentiated resources?” I was asked.

I hadn’t, so I started to try to work out how that might be possible. I went to observe colleagues and asked them what I should do and what kind of resources I should create. Crosswords, picture task cards, videos and worksheets with differentiated questions were the most common replies.

So that’s what I did. As I got to know the pupils and their learning needs in much more detail, I began spending evenings and weekends preparing differentiated resources. I produced crosswords for some, picture task cards for others. The high achievers, meanwhile, had to read, highlight, annotate and discuss text.

It did not go well. It came to a head in a lesson in which some pupils were getting a video to watch while others were writing in their books. They all wanted to watch the video. And I had an angry mob on my hands as a result.

I settled them down after explaining, in great detail, how those particular tasks would get them a better grade. However, on reflection, I realised this was not the case. All I was doing was giving the more capable learners the top-level work and convincing myself that a video or easier activity was suitable for the rest. It really wasn’t.

As the week progressed and I had similar incidents, I became ever more uncomfortable. By trying to simplify the work for some children, I was actually letting them down and not taking their learning seriously.

So I stopped differentiating work in this way. I educated myself on the methodology of teaching to the top and scaffolding work through the use of writing frames and individual support where it was necessary.

It worked a treat. This is now a standard feature of my classroom practice. I still do get it wrong sometimes but the aimless hours spent creating a wide range of resources is a distant memory - as it should be for every teacher. Dumbing down may tick a box on an observation sheet but it is the last thing that a child needs.

Darren Leslie is a teacher of physical education in Clackmannanshire, Scotland, and host of the Becoming Educated podcast. He tweets @dnleslie

This article originally appeared in the 10 April 2020 issue under the headline “Dumb down at your peril”