Ep 330: Differentiated Instruction for Multiple Prep Teachers: Plan Once, Not Three Times

About this episode

Khristen Massic discusses a more effective approach to differentiated instruction for teachers managing multiple preps, advocating for planning lessons that challenge all students rather than creating separate materials for different ability levels.

Middle and high school teachers juggling multiple preps, let’s get real about “differentiated instruction for multiple prep teachers.” Somewhere along the way, most of us were told to plan for the average student—then tack on extensions for high achievers and interventions for strugglers. It sounds smart until you try living it with a full schedule and three, four, or five different classes to prep each day. You’re burned out and barely holding it together, all because you’re basically writing three versions of every lesson. Host Khristen Massic calls out this outdated advice, and she’s got a better way. If you’re stuck in the plan-for-the-middle rut, you know what happens: your top students breeze through the work and get bored, the strugglers get lost, and somehow “average” becomes a code word for “meh.” You scramble to come up with side quests for the kids who finish early, and you tape together interventions for those who can’t get started at all. That’s not differentiated instruction—it’s full-blown teacher burnout. Let’s flip that script. Host Khristen Massic learned a game-changer after supporting gifted and talented students: if you plan for your top students and then…

People in this episode

Host: Khristen Massic

Topics covered

• differentiated instruction
• multiple prep teachers
• teacher burnout
• scaffolding
• lesson planning

Keywords

• differentiated instruction
• multiple prep
• teacher burnout
• scaffolding
• lesson planning
• gifted students
• education strategies

More episodes of Secondary Teacher Podcast

• Ep 343: CTE Teachers Need More Than "Build Relationships" · June 11, 2026 · 10 min
• Ep 342: Teacher Strategies for a 10-Minute End-of-Year Reset · June 9, 2026 · 9 min
• Ep 341: Teacher Planning Starts Here When You Have Multiple Courses · June 4, 2026 · 11 min
• Ep 340: Teacher Work Life Balance Without Giving Up Your Summer · June 2, 2026 · 10 min
• Ep 339: Teacher Planning With the Introduce, Practice, Produce Framework · May 28, 2026 · 12 min
• Ep 338: Secondary Teacher Strategies for Building Courses From Scratch · May 26, 2026 · 12 min