👋 Hello {{first name | reader!}} It’s Jamie!
In this edition of ⚗️DistillED, we’re focusing on Adaptive Teaching — how to keep expectations high while planning responsive support for every learner in the room.
In this edition
📊 Do Now: Quick Poll!
Which adaptive teaching move do you use most often?
What is Adaptive Teaching?
Adaptive teaching means adjusting instruction in response to how students are coping with learning — while keeping the learning goal the same for everyone.
It’s a shift away from traditional differentiation that often lowers expectations through “easy” and “hard” tasks. Instead of changing what students learn, adaptive teaching changes how we help them get there.
Educator and author Alex Quigley describes adaptive teaching as the “subtle, tricky, but compelling stuff of teaching” — the moment-to-moment decisions teachers make when they notice a student is stuck, confused, or ready for more challenge. This idea is echoed in Lyn Corno’s research on adaptive instruction:
“In teaching adaptively, teachers respond to learners as they work.”
This doesn’t mean planning three different worksheets (anyone remember the Nando’s Chilli Challenge levels?!). Rather, it suggests planning flexible support that can be added or removed as needed. All students work towards a shared, ambitious goal, but the scaffolds, prompts, sentence starters, and guided practice structures vary.
This idea closely echoes Barak Rosenshine’s Principles of Instruction, particularly the importance of guided practice, scaffolding, and gradually releasing responsibility as students become more competent.
Essentially, adaptive teaching is about:
High Challenge for All: Teaching to the top, not capping expectations
Responsive Support: Adjusting scaffolds based on real-time evidence
Professional Judgement: Noticing barriers and responding in the moment
Shared Goals: Keeping the objective common, not fragmented
Adaptive teaching is not a strategy. It’s a way of thinking about teaching. In a nutshell, here’s a distilled version of what adaptive teaching IS and IS NOT:
👎 Adaptive teaching is not:
Lowering the task (“Just write one sentence explaining...” when the goal was analytical explanation)
Fixed ability grouping (“You’re my mild-chilli group, so you’ll get this worksheet… Just fill in the blanks.”)
Separate work that fragments the class (“This table does the worksheet, that table does the project.”)
Support without direction (“Do your best.” with no scaffold, model, or guidance)
A replacement for clear teaching (“Do the research and have a go — I’ll help if you get stuck.” instead of modelling first)
👍 Adaptive teaching is:
Support that keeps the goal high (“We’re ALL explaining evaporation — use this sentence stem to help you start.”)
Scaffolding, not simplification (“Refer to the prompts on this labelled diagram to help structure your explanation.”)
Anchored in shared learning (“We’re working towards the same objective — this just helps you get there.”)
Responsive in the moment (“Lots of us are stuck on this step — let me show it another way… Guys, move over to this table.”)
Temporary and fading (“Try it with the prompt… Now try one without it.”)
Why is Adaptive Teaching Important?
Adaptive teaching matters because it helps teachers maintain high expectations for all learners while adjusting support based on what students actually understand — not what we assume about their ability. As Lyn Corno explains:
“Adaptive teachers provide appropriate support when they think it is needed, and withdraw support when they see students as capable of working alone.”
Research on formative assessment also shows that learning improves when teachers regularly check understanding and adapt their teaching in response. As Dylan Wiliam argues, effective teaching depends on teachers continually adjusting instruction based on evidence of student learning. Feedback should be forward-looking — used to improve learning in the moment, not just to reflect on past performance. (InnerDrive 2025).
Ultimately, adaptive teaching is at the heart of effective practice. Adjusting instruction in response to evidence of student learning matter because it:
Benefit 1: Protects high expectations for every learner.
Benefit 2: Makes classrooms more equitable and inclusive.
Benefit 3: Prevents misunderstandings being transferred to long-term memory.
Benefit 4: Builds independence, as scaffolds are gradually removed.
Corno’s work on microadaptations highlights how expert teachers make small, in-the-moment adjustments that help students stay on track without reducing challenge. As she puts it: “Microadaptation might be defined as continually assessing and learning as one teaches—thought and action intertwined.” (2008)
Some on-the-fly tweaks are visualised in the examples below.
So how can we bring this to life in the classroom? Let’s look at a practical method of adaptive teaching in action — the small, in-the-moment adjustments you can make to keep learning moving forward for everyone.
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How do I Implement Adaptive Teaching?
Before focusing on a concrete action plan, it’s important to recognise that adaptive teaching thrives in the right school culture. It isn’t a bolt-on technique — it’s a natural outcome of a learning environment that combines high expectations, professional trust, and a shared commitment to growth. It works best when three cultural conditions are in place:
Condition 1: High Expectations Are the Norm → Ambitious learning is the norm. Adaptive teaching removes barriers to the same goal.
Condition 2: Professional Judgement Is Trusted → Teachers are expected to notice, decide, and adjust in real time. Responsiveness is seen as expertise.
Condition 3: Improvement Is Collective → Refining practice is part of the culture. Teachers share problems, strategies, and insights, making adaptive teaching a shared habit.
Below is a five-part ⚗️DistillED cycle showing how adaptive teaching unfolds through planning, noticing, and responding.
Step | Explanation | Example |
|---|---|---|
1. Start with a Shared, Ambitious Goal
| All students work towards the same core learning objective, even if the support they receive differs. | “Today we are all explaining how evaporation happens.” |
2. Anticipate Likely Barriers
| Identify where students might struggle and prepare scaffolds that help them access the same learning. | Pre-teach key vocabulary, provide a model answer, prepare a labelled diagram etc. |
3. Check for Understanding Frequently
| Circulate regularly and use whole-class checks to see who is secure, who is unsure, and where misconceptions are forming. | Mini-whiteboards: “What happens to the particles during evaporation?” |
4. Apply a Microadaptation in Response to Evidence
| Respond to what students show you by tweaking scaffolds, explanations, or representations — not the learning goal. | “Start with this sentence stem…” / “Use the diagram to help structure your explanation.” |
5. Fade Support and Revisit Learning
| Closely monitor students and gradually remove scaffolds as confidence grows. Revisit tricky concepts later using new examples. | “Try it again without the prompt.” / Reteach the concept next lesson using a different representation. |
Good teaching is never static. The small decisions we make in the moment are often the ones that matter most.
Until next week,
Jamie
If you want more:
👉 Explore the Feedback and Responsive Teaching CPD resources in DistillED+ Hub
👉 Read the DistillED edition on Process Questions
👉 Read the DistillED edition on Circulation & Actionable Feedback
👉 Get the DistillED Playbooks for practical, evidence-informed classroom practices
Free One-Page Guide
Adaptive Teaching One-Page Guide
To help you put these ideas into practice straight away, download the Adaptive Teaching One-Page Guide — a classroom-ready resource designed to help you maintain high expectations, provide responsive scaffolds, and make in-the-moment adjustments that keep all learners moving forward without lowering the challenge.
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