Discover how the integration of two of education's most powerful frameworks will help teachers impart essential knowledge and skills to the full spectrum of learners.

In this practical guide, literacy experts show teachers how to use project-based inquiry to build students’ discipline-specific skills and knowledge in grades 6–12. The authors present a five-phase framework that incorporates their professional development experience working with over 3,000 teachers. By making the intuitive practices of the disciplines explicit within an inquiry process, students have opportunities to construct new knowledge by employing practices used by literary critics, scientists, historians, and mathematicians. Read, Write, Inquire responds to the current focus on disciplinary literacy across multiple sets of standards, offering a clear blueprint to help teachers meet these standards while also providing students with deep learning across the curriculum. “This unique approach encourages students to adopt sophisticated literacy practices in the same way the disciplines developed them—as a natural outgrowth of knowledge creation.” —Timothy Shanahan, distinguished professor emeritus, University of Illinois at Chicago

In this comprehensive resource for elementary school teachers, Kristina J. Doubet and Jessica A. Hockett explore how to use differentiated instruction to help students be more successful learners--regardless of background, native language, learning preference, or motivation. They explain how to Create a healthy classroom community in which students' unique qualities and needs are as important as the ones they have in common. Translate curriculum into manageable and meaningful learning goals that are fit to be differentiated. Use pre-assessment and formative assessment to uncover students' learning needs, tailor tasks accordingly, and ensure that students are "getting it." Provide interactive learning experiences that encourage students to engage with both the content and one another. Present students with avenues to take in, process, and produce knowledge that appeal to their varied interests and learning preferences. Navigate potential roadblocks to differentiation. Each chapter provides a plethora of practical tools, templates, and strategies for a variety of subject areas developed by and for real teachers. Whether you're new to differentiated instruction or looking to expand your repertoire of DI strategies, Differentiation in the Elementary Grades will show you classroom-tested ways to better engage students and help them succeed every day. Includes URL and password for free downloadable forms.

Constructivism is everywhere. It is a hot issue at this time in the field of philosophy, education, technology, and religion. However, can constructivism be an alternative approach in faith-based education? While some conclude that Jesus knew learning was an active knowledge-creating process, and that he always encouraged his disciples to think deeply and go beyond the surface level, others would find that constructivism undercuts faith-based education because of its claims to relativity. For example, constructivists claim that meaning is imposed on the world by us rather than existing in the world independently from us. Thus, they proclaim that truth is relative to particular times, places, and people. Christians hold that truth does exist absolutely. So how can there be a way forward for faith-based educators who see the good in the constructivist approach? In Faith-Based Education that Constructs readers will find a unique approach whereby constructivism may appropriately be applied to a faith-based education setting. Although disagreement can occur between constructivism and faith-based education, this book concludes that constructivist thought and Christian faith-based education are, in the end, congruent and harmonious in significant ways. Those faith-based educators who continue to hold cautionary views of radical constructivist assertions against absolute truths need not disregard all other aspects of constructivism.

Today’s teachers are responsible for a greater variety of learners with a greater diversity of needs than ever before. When you add in the ever-changing dynamics of technology and current events, the complexity of both students’ and teachers’ lives grows exponentially. Far too few teachers, however, successfully teach the whole class with the individual student in mind. In Leading and Managing a Differentiated Classroom, Carol Ann Tomlinson and Marcia B. Imbeau tackle the issue of how to address student differences thoughtfully and proactively. The first half of the book focuses on what it means for a teacher to effectively lead a differentiated classroom. Readers will learn how to be more confident and effective leaders for and in student-focused and responsive classrooms. The second half of the book focuses on the mechanics of managing a differentiated classroom. A teacher who has the best intentions, a dynamic curriculum, and plans for differentiation cannot—and will not—move forward unless he or she is at ease with translating those ideas into classroom practice. In other words, teachers who are uncomfortable with flexible classroom management will not differentiate instruction, even if they understand it, accept the need for it, and can plan for it. Tomlinson and Imbeau argue that the inherent interdependence of leading and managing a differentiated classroom is at the very heart of 21st-century education. This essential guide to differentiation also includes a helpful teacher’s toolkit of activities and teaching strategies that will help any teacher expand his or her capacity to make room for and work tirelessly on behalf of every student.

More than 45 tools and activities that make it easier for professional development leaders to show teachers and administrators how to successfully implement and maintain differentiated instruction.

Why, despite years of trying, have efforts to achieve lasting, effective school reform fallen short? What curricular and policy elements must be in place to move forward? How should the roles of teachers and education leaders be defined to best support the point of school? Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe answer these and other questions in Schooling by Design: Mission, Action, and Achievement. Building on the premise of Understanding by Design, their acclaimed framework for curriculum, instruction, and assessment, the authors present a compelling argument for using the same approach to reach a grand goal: the reform of schooling as a whole. In their view, reform rests on six pillars: * A relentless focus on the long-term mission of school: enabling learners to demonstrate understanding and mature habits of mind; * A curriculum and assessment framework that honors the mission and ensures that content "coverage" is no longer the accepted approach to instruction; * A set of principles of learning that support all decisions about pedagogy and planning; * Structures, policies, job descriptions, practices, and use of resources consistent with mission and learning principles; * An overall strategy that includes ongoing feedback and adjustment; and * A set of tactics linked to strategy, including a planning process that uses "backward design" to accomplish the key work of reform. Practical, insightful and provocative, Schooling by Design elaborates on each of these elements and presents educators with both the rationale and the methodology for closing the gap between what we say we want from school and what school actually delivers—for turning vision into reality.

Win big in the standards-based classroom! Standards-Based Learning (SBL) is NOT standardization. In fact, when we recognize the central purpose of SBL, which is to make learning the goal for all students, we can design systems and structures that are more personal, more flexible, and more engaging—for us and for our students. At its core, SBL simply asks us to organize our teaching and learning around three questions. These questions guide the creation of targets, the development of assessments, the instructional planning, and the systems to communicate learning. • Where do we want our learners to go? • How do we know where our learners are in relation to where we want them to go? • How do we move them from where they are towards or beyond where we want them to be? While simple at the core, the transition to a standards-based classroom is anything but. The complexity comes in the implementation, the integration into existing systems, and the difficult task of moving away from what’s most comfortable. The Standards-Based Classroom provides practical strategies and steps based on many years of both failures and successes to support educators during this transition to a standards-based system. The accessible and concrete examples, tools, and templates in the book can be adapted into any classroom. Teachers who are new to SBL will understand the parts, experienced teachers will see the connections to current practices, and all educators will realize the potential SBL has to transform learning.

Watch what happens when educators put differentiation to work in real classrooms! Based on research and the authors’ experiences at one remarkable elementary school, this book describes what schoolwide differentiation looks like in practice. The authors show school administrators how differentiated instruction can be successfully implemented schoolwide and provide teachers with authentic tools for the classroom. Readers will find: Nine sample lesson plans from various disciplines and grade levels Teacher and student voices describing their experiences with differentiation A chapter on supporting schoolwide implementation through coaching Sample preassessments Strategies for designing and refining lessons

Use the latest research to bring differentiated instruction to today′s inclusive classrooms! With flipped classrooms, response to intervention, and technology discussed as differentiated instructional tools, this book has it all! Teachers need 21st century resources that help them provide high-quality, differentiated instruction for all students. In this new edition of his best-selling resource, William Bender draws on the latest brain research, technology, and educational initiatives to bring a new focus to differentiating instruction in the context of the Common Core State Standards. By weaving together differentiated instruction, Response to Intervention, and educational technology, educators can increase achievement among students with learning disabilities and also foster the development of 21st-century skills. This updated guide offers Specific strategies for differentiating instruction within an RTI framework and in the context of the Common Core State Standards Strategies for using technology to instruct and assess students with learning disabilities Teaching tips and concrete examples of brain-friendly instruction Guidance on a range of supportive instructional techniques Additional strategies based on the latest research in metacognition Up-to-date techniques such as using Khan Academy, flipped classes, and wikis to enhance learning in general and special education settings This new edition of Differentiating Instruction for Students With Learning Disabilities offers the tools and strategies educators need to maximize achievement for all students. "The ideas in this book are wonderful! They are new, innovative, current, interesting, and very practical. I could easily implement some of these ideas in my classroom tomorrow!" —Rachel Aherns, Teacher Westridge Elementary School, West Des Moines, IA "Between these pages you will find ample strategies of how to effectively and efficiently individualize instruction for a classroom of diverse learners, without having to spend countless hours before and after a lesson preparing and assessing." —Jessica Purcell, Teacher Morehead City Middle School, Morehead City, NC