Once teachers have a feel for the type of students in their classrooms, they can plan curriculum and course activities accordingly. This process is often referred to as differentiated instruction, which involves teachers purposefully planning for students’ different learning abilities. As author and educator Carol Ann Tomlinson (Ed.D.) explains, teachers using differentiated instruction vary their teaching methods ‘in order to create the best learning experience possible.’ According to Dr. Tomlinson, differentiated instruction is ‘an approach to teaching that advocates active planning for and attention to student differences in classrooms, in the context of high quality curriculums.’ Although the term may be new to some, it’s actually a concept teachers have been using for quite some time. For instance, most teachers automatically decipher which students learn which ways during the first few weeks of class. The differentiation method just narrows that skill down to the four basic classroom elements that Dr. Tomlinson defines as content, process, products and learning environment.