Book Description: Some children learn easily, while others struggle. How can teachers make sure that every child has opportunities to develop his or her talents? The answer is differentiation: changing the pace, level, or kind of instruction in response to learners' needs, styles, and/or interests. In this timely, practical guide, Diane Heacox presents a menu of strategies for any teacher faced with a spectrum of student needs and styles. Some are quick and easy-differentiating discussions, creating tiered assignments. Others are more comprehensive-matrix plans for designing curriculum units, "one-sentence lesson plans" that encompass content, process skills, and evidence of learning. Individual chapters focus on evaluation in a differentiated classroom and how to manage both behavior and work tasks. Diane describes ways to get to know your students and recognize that all have strengths and limitations. Not every gifted student is always ready for higher-level thinking; not every child with learning differences is always incapable of succeeding in a "higher group." Any curriculum can be differentiated-even a standard or mandated curriculum. Drawing on Bloom's Taxonomy, Gardner's Multiple Intelligences, other experts in the field, and her own experience in the classroom, Diane explains how to differentiate instruction in a wide variety of scenarios to provide variety and challenge in how teachers teach and in how students learn. Templates and forms simplify planning; examples illustrate differentiation in many content areas. Recommended for all teachers committed to reaching and teaching all learners. Includes reproducibles.
Make sure you get the CD with ready-to-use tempplates. Another differentaition guide, this one completely focused on the practical, everyday needs of teachers and students in a differentiated classroom. Be sure to get the CD, which contains templates that can be adapted to individual needs. It is especially handy for teachers who don't have the time to create everything themselves (all of us).
Heacox gives brief, to the point examples of differentiation strategies and situations and then provides classroom tested templates for meeting the needs of a wide variety of learners. I LOVE the Integration Matrix.
Great for teachers "new" to differentiation Yes, differentiation is the latest and greatest buzzword. But do people really know how to differentiate and why?
I have found this book to be helpful. I am a new teacher and found myself immersed in a classroom my first year with an inner city mixed age-group class (4th and 5th graders). I had children in my room performing as low as 2nd grade and as high as 7th grade. All in one room. This isn't uncommon nowadays and Diane Heacox's book has shown me how to set up for a successful differentiated classroom environment from the beginning of the year. Yes, almost all teachers differentiate -- but having true and useful strategies to implement from the start makes it easier to accomplish.
Heacox advises, several times, to start slowly and only do what works at first. She also says it may be necessary to differentiate only one subject this year and do another next year and so on to keep yourself from getting overwhelmed. I thought the pace was good and her examples really helped a visual person like myself to see the "big picture". I am excited to use the Learning Styles and Multiple Intelligences information she includes in the book with my next class. Best of all, she provides examples of how to explain differentiation to parents and administrators.
New to differentiation? I found this book to be terrific! It answered all of my questions. I used the student survey with my 9th grade students and they loved it! I even use the matrix plans for every unit I teach. This book covers it all - placing students in groups (how to place students in groups using differentiation), tiering assignments, grading (is differentiation fair), classroom management (how do I manage 30 students doing 30 different activities), and special populations (exceptional, gifted, and regular education). I have read other books on differentiation put out by ASCD, but this one you can really apply to your classoom!
Necessity for Differentiation I attended a workshop by Ms. Heacox. Since I can't have her come help me in my classroom, I got this book instead. It's excellent for all grade levels. A great resource for the basics of how to differentiate and why.
A Good Place to Start Differentiation is one of the current buzzwords, and lots of people talk about it...in theory. It's really difficult to find ANYONE who talks about it in PRACTICE. Heacox, while still heavy in theory, goes farther than any other authors I've read so far on the subject in actually giving teachers usuable tools for curriculum writing and developing. Could there be more immediately applicable things? Of course. Still, it's come the closest to giving teachers some tangible strategies and activities that I've found.
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