Product Description
The research is compelling: when teachers differentiate reading instruction, students learn more. But teachers are too often given the expectation of differentiation without the details on how to make it work. In No More Reading Instruction Without Differentiation, Debra Peterson and Lynn Bigelman offer an instructional framework that adapts instruction based on individual students needs and interests. Peterson unpacks the research that supports differentiated instruction. Then veteran school principal Bigelman shows how to implement differentiation using:
• Learning Targets & Performance Tasks
• Student Self-Assessment
• Talk to Assess & Deepen Student Understanding
• Workshop: A Daily Structure for Differentiation
• Project-Based Learning
• Conferring
• Individual Learning Goals
• Intervention Planning
Differentiation doesn't mean creating separate lesson plans for each student every day. Differentiation is responsive teaching that identifies what each student knows and can do and what can happen next to move that student forward in her learning. In this book, you’ll find the tools and strategies to better meet the needs of the children in your classroom right now.
In this book, we argue for an instructional framework that asks teachers to adapt instruction based on the individual student’s needs and interests. We show how to scaffold students’ learning experiences toward lofty goals over the course of several months while also honoring children’s uniqueness. I have seen many, many teachers find new joy in their profession, even after as many as twenty years of presenting traditional whole-class instruction, when they are encouraged to adopt differentiated instruction and given the support they need to do so. They experience firsthand how differentiating instruction can ignite or reignite the love of teaching and learning.
The research examined in the next section supports moving to a student-centered, authentic, academically rigorous learning environment for all children. The evidence is compelling: We must differentiate. Differentiated instructional practices not only promote student achievement and engagement but also are engaging to teachers. Research supports the integration of differentiation within our classrooms and begs us to replace old habits. Section 3 presents specific examples to help make differentiation happen in your classroom and school.
