A mixed-ability class studying An Inspector Calls contains students with very different needs. Some are learning English as an additional language, some have specific learning needs, and some simply find extended writing hard. The same page of comments will not help all of them.

Differentiation does not mean giving these students easier targets. It means changing the way feedback is delivered so that the same high expectations are within reach. The play itself has demanding vocabulary and period references, so support matters.

The challenge for teachers is time. Writing three versions of a comment for a single essay is not realistic across a full load, so the approach has to be efficient.

The ideas below are practical and can be built into existing marking routines.

Keep the target the same and change the route

If the goal is to explain the effect of a word in a quotation, every student should work toward it. For an EAL student, the route might include a word bank and a sentence starter. For a student with processing difficulties, it might be a single, clearly numbered instruction.

• Limit feedback to one or two priorities per piece of work
• Use short, concrete sentences and avoid idioms in comments
• Provide sentence starters for analysis, such as "This suggests that..."
• Offer a short glossary of key terms from the play
• Allow students to respond to feedback orally or in bullet points

Separate content from language

For EAL students, it helps to comment separately on ideas and on language accuracy. A student may understand Mrs. Birling's hypocrisy perfectly well while struggling to express it in formal English. Praising the idea first makes the language feedback easier to accept.

It also gives you a clearer picture of what the student understands, which is essential for deciding what to teach next.

Make feedback easier to use

Format matters as much as content. Large blocks of text can be hard to process, so use bullet points, spacing and a clear order of tasks. Some students benefit from a checklist they can tick off as they revise.

Check that students know what to do with the feedback. A short conversation or a modeled example can make the difference between a comment that is read and one that is acted on.

Using tools to adapt at scale

AI feedback tools such as GraideMind can help by drafting feedback in a simpler form, with shorter sentences and clearer structure, based on the same rubric used for the rest of the class. You can then add a personal note and confirm that the guidance suits the student.

This kind of support helps make differentiation realistic for busy teachers, and it ensures every student is measured against the same criteria.