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Session 3. Content, Process and Product
Objective. Adjust content, process or product for one lesson while keeping one common objective and the same evidence of learning.
When a pupil cannot do a task, teachers often make the whole task easier. That solves the wrong problem: the idea may be fine and the barrier may be a long text, a missing first step or a demand to write when the pupil can explain well aloud. The three levers of content, process and product help you name the barrier and change only that. Pupils still work toward the same objective, and you can still compare their evidence fairly.
Key ideas
Three levers
- Content is what pupils work with: the text, the numbers, the examples. Process is how they make sense of it. Product is how they show what they learned.
- You do not have to change all three. Pick the one that removes the biggest barrier for the pupils in front of you.
- Ask first: what exactly stops this group reaching the objective? Then pick the lever.
Content: change the material, not the aim
- Offer the same idea in a shorter or simpler text, with smaller numbers, or with a more familiar example such as a plov recipe or a cotton field.
- Offer a harder text or a more complex case to pupils who are ready, still about the same idea.
- Keep the number of versions small. Two or three are enough.
Process: change the help and the way of working
- Add support: a worked example, a sentence frame, a hint card, a partner, or a first step done together.
- Change the amount of teacher time: some groups meet you first; others begin alone and come to you later.
- Support is temporary. Plan how to take it away.
Product: change how pupils show it, not what
- Allow two or three ways to show the same learning: a short written explanation, a labelled drawing, or an oral explanation to the teacher or a partner.
- Check that every product can be judged against the same short criteria, for example 'names both steps and says why'.
- Do not offer a choice that is easier but proves less. Same evidence, different form.
Levers at a glance
| Lever | What you change | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Content | Text, numbers, examples | Fractions with denominators 2, 4, 8 or 6, 10, 12 |
| Process | Help and way of working | Worked example and partner, or alone with a hint card |
| Product | How learning is shown | Written sentence, labelled drawing or spoken explanation |
| Unchanged | Objective and evidence | Everyone shows the cause and the effect |
Three levers, one objective
Content
What pupils work with
- Shorter or simpler text
- Smaller or larger numbers
- Familiar or new example
Process
How they make sense of it
- Worked example or hint card
- Partner or teacher first
- Alone then compare
Product
How they show it
- Short written paragraph
- Labelled drawing
- Spoken explanation
Name the barrier before you pick a lever
Look at where pupils stop. If they stop while reading, the barrier is in content: the text may be too long, the words too hard, or the numbers too large. If they understand the text but do not know how to start, the barrier is in process: they may need a worked example, a first step modelled by you, or a partner. If they can explain to you aloud but cannot write it, the barrier is in product, and speaking, drawing or a labelled diagram may show the same learning.
Naming the barrier saves preparation time. Often one change is enough: a shorter text, a hint card or an oral option. Plan one lever for each group and test it in the lesson. If a group still struggles, ask again where exactly they stop, and move to another lever.
Keep the evidence honest
The risk in differentiating the product is that one route quietly asks for less. A pupil who may 'draw the water cycle' should still show both steps in order and the cause of each, just as the pupil who writes a paragraph does. Write two or three short criteria before the lesson, such as 'both steps in the right order' and 'a cause named for each', and judge every product against them.
The same care applies to content. A simpler text must still contain the key words and ideas of the objective, or pupils will arrive at a different place. Check by solving your own tasks: if the support version can be finished without meeting the key idea, it needs to be redesigned. Prepare once and reuse: three reading versions or hint cards can serve many classes.
Examples from the classroom
Grade 6 science in Tashkent: change the text
Scene. Aziz notices that eight pupils stop in the second line of the water-cycle text; the sentences are long and the vocabulary is new. He prepares a 120-word version with the two key words in bold and a small picture. The other pupils keep the textbook page. All pupils must then show evaporation, condensation and a cause for each. The extra preparation took him about twelve minutes.
Insight. Naming the barrier, the text, led to a small content change that kept the same objective.
Grade 3 reading in a Russian-medium class: change the process
Scene. Malika in Samarkand has pupils who read the story but cannot say what it is about. Instead of a shorter story, she models the first step aloud for the support group: 'I look for the sentence that tells me who and what.' Pupils then try with a partner, using a hint card with three questions. The other groups work alone first and compare with a neighbour.
Insight. When pupils understand the text but cannot start, add a model and a partner rather than simplifying.
Grade 8 history: change the product
Scene. Dilnoza in Samarkand asks pupils to show why the Silk Road mattered to their city. She gives three choices: a paragraph, a labelled route drawing, or a two-minute spoken explanation to a partner. All products need two goods named and one reason they travelled. Jasur, who writes slowly, chooses the spoken explanation and meets every criterion; Nodira chooses a drawing with a clear caption.
Insight. A product choice works when everyone is judged by the same short criteria.
Common pitfalls
- Making a task easier by removing the key idea, so that the support group learns something else.
- Changing all three levers at once, which leaves you unable to tell what helped.
- Offering a product choice that is easier but proves less, such as a drawing with no explanation.
- Preparing three full lessons instead of one lesson with one or two targeted adjustments.
Three Levers on One Lesson
- Read the sample lesson plan in your Activity Kit (Grade 6 natural science, evaporation and condensation). Note the objective and the evidence: they cannot change.
- Alone (5 min): note where in this lesson pupils would get stuck and where they would finish early.
- In groups of three (20 min): complete the planning grid. For three groups (support, core, stretch) write one content change, one process change and one product choice. Mark in each case what stays the same.
- Test (10 min): swap grids with another group. Check two things: do all products show the same evidence, and is the extra preparation under 15 minutes?
- Share (5 min): each group reads out its one best idea and the problem it removes.
Your facilitator will guide you through this activity in the session.
Questions to discuss
- Which lever removed the biggest barrier for the support group, and why?
- Did any product choice quietly ask for less than the evidence? How would you fix it?
- What preparation can you do once and reuse for several lessons?
Reflect
- In your next lesson, where do pupils most often get stuck: content, process or product?
- Which support could you use once and then remove?
- Which products from your pupils could be judged by the same two criteria?
Try it tomorrow
- In your next lesson, watch where pupils stop and write down whether the barrier is content, process or product.
- Write two or three short criteria for the evidence before the lesson, and use them to judge every version of the task.
- Prepare one adjusted version of a text or task that you can reuse next term.
Further reading and links
Change content, process or product one at a time to remove a real barrier, and keep the objective and the evidence the same.