Rigor and Differentiation in the Classroom


Book Description

Learn how to differentiate instruction while maintaining a rigorous learning environment. In this practical book, rigor expert Barbara R. Blackburn shows that the differentiated classroom doesn’t mean extra work for top students and easy work for others; instead, you can have high expectations for all students and provide scaffolding so that everyone can reach success. She also addresses many of the greatest concerns teachers have about implementing differentiated instruction, including: How to manage your time so that you can create lessons, find resources, and grade assignments for students working at different levels; How to balance differentiated instruction and teaching standards; How to ensure rigor at all tiers of instruction; How to collaborate with teachers and other faculty members; How to differentiate homework and other out-of-class assignments; How to explain differentiated instruction to parents and families; And more... Each chapter includes practical tools and activities that you can use immediately to bring all students to higher levels of achievement. Many of these tools are available as eResources and can be downloaded for free from the book’s product page: www.routledge.com/9780815394471.




The Differentiated Classroom


Book Description

Although much has changed in schools in recent years, the power of differentiated instruction remains the same—and the need for it has only increased. Today's classroom is more diverse, more inclusive, and more plugged into technology than ever before. And it's led by teachers under enormous pressure to help decidedly unstandardized students meet an expanding set of rigorous, standardized learning targets. In this updated second edition of her best-selling classic work, Carol Ann Tomlinson offers these teachers a powerful and practical way to meet a challenge that is both very modern and completely timeless: how to divide their time, resources, and efforts to effectively instruct so many students of various backgrounds, readiness and skill levels, and interests. With a perspective informed by advances in research and deepened by more than 15 years of implementation feedback in all types of schools, Tomlinson explains the theoretical basis of differentiated instruction, explores the variables of curriculum and learning environment, shares dozens of instructional strategies, and then goes inside elementary and secondary classrooms in nearly all subject areas to illustrate how real teachers are applying differentiation principles and strategies to respond to the needs of all learners. This book's insightful guidance on what to differentiate, how to differentiate, and why lays the groundwork for bringing differentiated instruction into your own classroom or refining the work you already do to help each of your wonderfully unique learners move toward greater knowledge, more advanced skills, and expanded understanding. Today more than ever, The Differentiated Classroom is a must-have staple for every teacher's shelf and every school's professional development collection.




Rigor is Not a Four-letter Word


Book Description

Reader-friendly and practical, Rigor is NOT a Four-Letter Word is filled with tools you can use every day to raise the level of rigor in your classroom. These strategies can be incorporated immediately across content areas, grades, and subjects. Barbara Blackburn clearly defines what rigor is and how individual teachers can provide challenging learning experiences in their classrooms to prepare students for a better future.




Differentiation and the Brain


Book Description

Examine the basic principles of differentiation in light of what current research on educational neuroscience has revealed. This research pool offers information and insights that can help educators decide whether certain curricular, instructional, and assessment choices are likely to be more effective than others. Learn how to implement differentiation so that it achieves the desired result of shared responsibility between teacher and student.




How to Differentiate Instruction in Mixed-ability Classrooms


Book Description

Offers a definition of differentiated instruction, and provides principles and strategies designed to help teachers create learning environments that address the different learning styles, interests, and readiness levels found in a typical mixed-ability classroom.




DIY Literacy


Book Description

"We have never seen teachers work harder than we do now. These tools inspire kids to work as hard as we are." -Kate Roberts and Maggie Beattie Roberts What's DIY Literacy? It's making your own visual teaching tools instead of buying them. It's using your teaching smarts to get the most from those tools. And it's helping kids think strategically so they can be DIY learners. "Teaching tools create an impact on students' learning," write Kate Roberts and Maggie Beattie Roberts. "They help students hold onto our teaching and become changed by the work in the classroom." Of course, you and your students need the right tools for the job, so first Kate and Maggie share four simple, visual tools that you can make. Then they show how to maximize your instructional know-how with suggestions for using the tools to: make your reading and writing strategies stick motivate students to reach for their next learning goal differentiate instruction simply and quickly. Kate and Maggie are like a friendly, handy neighbor. They offer experience-honed advice for using the four tools for assessment, small-group instruction, conferring, setting learning goals, and, most important, helping students learn to apply strategies and make progress without prompting from you. In other words, to do it themselves. "It is our greatest hope," write Kate and Maggie, "that the tools we offer here will help your students to work hard, to hold onto what they know, and to see themselves in the curriculum you teach." Try DIY Literacy and help your readers and writers take learning into their own hands.




Differentiated Instruction Made Practical


Book Description

Need to decide when, why, and how to differentiate instruction in the classroom? Differentiated Instruction Made Practical introduces teachers to All Learners Learning Every Day (ALL-ED), an easy-to-use framework that enables tailored instruction for every learner. These unique, self-regulated learning routines were developed by an experienced K-12 teacher and researcher in collaboration with an educational psychology scholar. Filled with useful classroom examples, evaluation procedures, self-reflection activities, and relevant background information, this essential guide will help classroom teachers think on their feet and promote success for all students—not just the middle of the pack.




So All Can Learn


Book Description

How do we educate so all can learn? What does differentiation look like when done successfully? This practical guide to differentiation answers these questions and more. Based on national and international work, McCarthy shares how educators finally understand how differentiation can work. Bridging pedagogy and practice, each chapter addresses a key understanding for how good teaching practices can include differentiation with examples and concrete methods and strategies. The book is constructed to differentiate for diverse educators: veteran of many years to the pre-service teacher, classroom teacher leader to administrator as instructional leader, and coaches for staff professional development: Presents common language for staff discussing learner needs. Provides structures for designing powerful learning experiences so all can learn. Includes chapter reflection questions and job-embedded tasks to help readers process and practice what they learn. Explore a supporting website with companion resources. All learners deserve growth. All teachers and administrators deserve methods and practices that helps them to meet learner needs in an ever challenging education environment. Take this journey so all can learn.




How to Differentiate Instruction in Academically Diverse Classrooms


Book Description

First published in 1995 as How to Differentiate Instruction in Mixed-Ability Classrooms, this new edition reflects evolving best practices, practitioners' experience, and Tomlinson's ongoing thinking about how to help all students access high-quality curriculum; engage in meaningful learning experiences; and feel safe and valued in their school. Written as a practical guide for teachers, this expanded 3rd edition of Carol Ann Tomlinson's groundbreaking work covers the fundamentals of differentiation and provides additional guidelines and new strategies for how to go about it. You'll learn What differentiation is and why it's essential How to set up the flexible and supportive learning environment that promotes success How to manage a differentiated classroom How to plan lessons differentiated by readiness, interest, and learning profile How to differentiate content, process, and products How to prepare students, parents, and yourself for the challenge of differentiation We differentiate instruction to honor the reality of the students we teach. They are energetic and outgoing. They are quiet and curious. They are confident and self-doubting. They are interested in a thousand things and deeply immersed in a particular topic. They are academically advanced and "kids in the middle" and struggling due to cognitive, emotional, economic, or sociological challenges. More of them than ever speak a different language at home. They learn at different rates and in different ways. And they all come together in our academically diverse classrooms.




Teaching with the Instructional Cha-chas


Book Description

With foreword by Rick Wormeli Merging educational neuroscience with a formative assessment process and differentiated instruction, LeAnn Nickelsen and Melissa Dickson developed a four-step cycle of instruction -- (1) chunk, (2) chew, (3) check, and (4) change -- that has the power to double the speed of student learning. Compatible with any subject area, the book's brain-friendly teaching strategies and plentiful tools are designed to help transform students into active learners and independent thinkers. Educational neuroscience- and research-based teaching strategies to improve student achievement: Combine brain science with a formative assessment process and differentiated instruction to maximize student learning. Examine effective teaching strategies and differentiation practices so you can bump it up or break it down according to student needs. Consider the four-step instructional cycle and understand the components of chunk, chew, check, and change. Explore how the formative assessment process can double the speed of learning. Learn how to plan instruction and preassess efficiently so that daily learning targets and formative assessments enable each student to meet standards. Receive templates and teaching strategies that can be easily differentiated and implemented in daily lesson plans. Contents: Introduction: Maneuver Your Footwork With Four Steps Part I: Setting Up Your Classroom Dance Floor Chapter 1: Choreograph Your Instruction With the Cha-Cha Steps Chapter 2: Move Smoothly From Broad Ideas to Smaller Ideas Chapter 3: Get to Know Your Dance Partners Part II: Putting the Steps Together Chapter 4: Take Step One: Chunk (Instruct) Chapter 5: Take Step Two: Chew (Learn) Chapter 6: Take Step Three: Check (Evaluate) Chapter 7: Take Step Four: Change (Differentiate) Chapter 8: Finesse the Chunk, Chew, Check, and Change Cycle Epilogue: Swing Into Action With the Four Steps