I thought this book was okay. There wasn't really any new thinking in it. A lot of what I read I had already heard before. While I probably would not recommend it to a seasoned teacher, I think a new teacher could benefit from some of the lessons and ideas put forth by the book. It's organized well and has examples from all grade ranges. A new teacher could look at the formats used for each unit and pick and choose what would work for her.
I would recommend this unit to someone who is looking for some units that they could easily incorporate into their classroom. The units are great, well organized, challenging, and fun for the kids. The format for the units are easily adaptable, which would work well for many concepts. I know my team will like the ABC unit, so I will definitely recommend it to them.
The book was well organized and the structure easy to understand and read. I would recommend it to someone looking for a style of how to organize for differentiation. I do think it causes one to reflect on whether to include the teacher rationale into units of study. I do think it would benefit from an update to include the latest technology.
I would recommend this book to a new teacher who is struggling with differentiation. I'm not sure how useful it will be to an SBSID classroom teacher since so much of the curriculum is "scripted" these days. In the library I have much more freedom. I do like the "cookbook" style the authors used. But then, I am a Virgo, a librarian and a cook so I gravitate toward that kind of structured format.
Cynthiamer , I agree with you - I kept wondering where the technology was. I did the 11 Tools this summer so kept mentally adding some of the tools to some of the activities. Given it has a 2003 copyright I am surprised that everything in it is paper & pencil. It would be interesting to use this book again next summer and update it for the 21st century.
I would recommend the book but anticipate a new edition since it's from '03 and lacks any use of technology. It has some great ideas that never change.
I enjoyed reading this book. I thought it had interesting ideaes and would recommend to a teacher looking for ways to differentiate. Nevertheless,I do agree with what Of Life, Education, E-bay, Travel & Books said: it is going to be difficult to implement due to our scripted curriculum. I would add fast-paced, skim-just-the surface to that discription as well.
I also agree with the observations of cynthiamer and Karen Donathen regarding the lack of technology.
I would recommend this book to other professionals especially teachers who want ideas on how to differentiate for all learners. I appreciated the ease at which it took to read this book too.
Since I messed up and signed up for an elementary book study when I teach middle school Language Arts, I'm not sure if I got quite as much out of it as I might have otherwise. I do agree that the organization was very clear, and I really do see that this could be a great model if I was going to plan an entire unit with differentiation explained in this kind of detail. I agree that this format would be great for new teachers. I'd like to see our district provide some units done in this detail that include more technology and that relate to each subject and grade level. That would be extremely beneficial to new teachers and for anyone.
I would highly recommend this book especially to new teachers who may not have as much experience with differentiation and not know how to implement it in the regular class setting. I think the book does an excellant job at explaining how to and gives practical ideas for how to adjust lessons to meet the needs of all students.
I absolutely would recommend this book to a varied range of educators. New teachers could use it to better understand differentiation and have some "pre-made" units to refer to as they are honing their classroom craft. Experienced teachers could use it as a "reminder" and for re-invigorating their teaching styles. Teachers of small groups could use it to focus specifically on a target group of students for enrichment and/or remediation. It's practical, it's doable, and it's realistic within the school day time frame and with the other expectations that teachers are required to meet.
I really enjoyed this book; more than any of the other book studies I have done. Yes, the theories have not changed and we have heard it before, but I really like having the lessons laid out for us. This has given me a concrete idea of how it looks on paper. I will use several aspects of each of these units in my class this year. I would definitely recommend this book to my collegues. Thanks!
I enjoyed reading this book. It reinforced my ideas about differentiation and gave some great specific examples of planning and implementation. I would recommend this book to other teachers, especially teachers who are not familiar with differentiation. The ideas are timeless- although more technology ideas would be helpful. I do think that the lessons at times were very broad and I would have preferred knowing a grade range and examples of how to change the unit for a different grade. I look forward to implementing ideas with my teammate- CynthiaMer.
Well, I would "chunk" different sections for different teachers. I feel that it is easier to implement when it coincides with the curriculum that one is already teaching. Unfortunately, I know a lot of teachers that have a hard time trying anything new - from what they are already comfortable with. Taking in new information and being able to implement might be a lot more doable this year rather than the multiple initiatives we had last year... I'm thinking I'm just going to place some of the lessons in our shared planner and see if my colleagues actually read it. LOL Therefore, the ideas are being shared and then if they would like to know more - I'll go further into conversation with them. I'd recommend it!!!! Especially since it helps differentiate for all students!
I would recommend this book to other educators. I thought there were some good resources within the chapters. I think you have to really search through the book for those elements. I believe that Chapter 1 was excellent. I think the remainder of the chapters were a bit repetitive, and therefore, easy to skim over and not recognize some key points and great ideas. Over all the book was fine.
Though I know that we are not required to comment on other people's comments for session 4, I did want to make a point regarding what Betsy said. I agree with Betsy that this would be a good book for new teachers and it would be a great teaching tool.
I enjoyed reading ‘Differentiation in Practice’ as it validated my understanding and gave me some ideas for teaching my students. I especially liked the ABC unit and the geometry unit-those seemed the most helpful. I think Part I-A Brief Primer on Differentiation was the portion of the book that provoked the most discussion. This is where conversation [either electronic or in person] begins and this is the heart of a book study. The units of study, while helpful to teachers, did not bring up issues that could stem good discussions. So, if a teacher is looking for a unit of study to try, then I would recommend the separate units in this book. I would also recommend ‘Study Driven’ by Katie Wood Ray, as that professional resource is also full of strategies and techniques to meet the needs of all learners.
When I first starting reading this book, I just thought it was OK. It didn't seem like any new information. The concepts that the authors discuss are not new topics. However, when I got a chance to look closer at the units, I was really impressed at the different strategies used to create very differentiated lessen. I have used some of the strategies in the different unit, but I appreciate the well thought out units that really incorporates every learner. I think the lessons were explained very well so that a new teacher could understand. I would recommend this book to a friend and already have!
I agree with most of the writers before me! I would definately recommend this book for anyone looking for guidance in planning differenciated lessons. I like that it wasn't "pointed" at differenciating for one specific need group and that it could be generalized. I think planning this way would take more time than we have but...having the model makes it more reasonable to try some of the techniques. As we try them we can streamline as all good planners do! As I read through there were two instances where I passed on the lessons almost immediately to people I knew would use them! Thanks for choosing a great resource!
I would definitely recommend this book to other educators. It gave me great ideas for how to differentiate lessons in my classroom. The best part about the ideas were that they were doable. Sometimes I feel like we get so overwhelmed by making things so different for different students that it's hard to get motivated to do it. However, this book provided straight forward and meaningful ways to differentiate that actually put the students in control of their learning and take busy work away from both the teacher and student. I think everyone in the classroom, teacher included would benefit from the lessons and ideas in this book.
I thought this book was okay. There wasn't really any new thinking in it. A lot of what I read I had already heard before. While I probably would not recommend it to a seasoned teacher, I think a new teacher could benefit from some of the lessons and ideas put forth by the book. It's organized well and has examples from all grade ranges. A new teacher could look at the formats used for each unit and pick and choose what would work for her.
ReplyDeleteI would recommend this unit to someone who is looking for some units that they could easily incorporate into their classroom. The units are great, well organized, challenging, and fun for the kids. The format for the units are easily adaptable, which would work well for many concepts. I know my team will like the ABC unit, so I will definitely recommend it to them.
ReplyDeleteThe book was well organized and the structure easy to understand and read. I would recommend it to someone looking for a style of how to organize for differentiation. I do think it causes one to reflect on whether to include the teacher rationale into units of study. I do think it would benefit from an update to include the latest technology.
ReplyDeleteI would recommend this book to a new teacher who is struggling with differentiation. I'm not sure how useful it will be to an SBSID classroom teacher since so much of the curriculum is "scripted" these days. In the library I have much more freedom. I do like the "cookbook" style the authors used. But then, I am a Virgo, a librarian and a cook so I gravitate toward that kind of structured format.
ReplyDeleteCynthiamer , I agree with you - I kept wondering where the technology was. I did the 11 Tools this summer so kept mentally adding some of the tools to some of the activities. Given it has a 2003 copyright I am surprised that everything in it is paper & pencil. It would be interesting to use this book again next summer and update it for the 21st century.
ReplyDeleteI would recommend the book but anticipate a new edition since it's from '03 and lacks any use of technology. It has some great ideas that never change.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading this book. I thought it had interesting ideaes and would recommend to a teacher looking for ways to differentiate. Nevertheless,I do agree with what Of Life, Education, E-bay, Travel & Books said: it is going to be difficult to implement due to our scripted curriculum. I would add fast-paced, skim-just-the surface to that discription as well.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with the observations of cynthiamer and Karen Donathen regarding the lack of technology.
I would recommend this book to other professionals especially teachers who want ideas on how to differentiate for all learners. I appreciated the ease at which it took to read this book too.
ReplyDeleteKatie,
ReplyDeleteYou are correct, it's a very fast and easy read and it's also easy to find the ideas. As a librarian I appreciated the extensive bibliography.
Since I messed up and signed up for an elementary book study when I teach middle school Language Arts, I'm not sure if I got quite as much out of it as I might have otherwise. I do agree that the organization was very clear, and I really do see that this could be a great model if I was going to plan an entire unit with differentiation explained in this kind of detail. I agree that this format would be great for new teachers. I'd like to see our district provide some units done in this detail that include more technology and that relate to each subject and grade level. That would be extremely beneficial to new teachers and for anyone.
ReplyDeleteI would highly recommend this book especially to new teachers who may not have as much experience with differentiation and not know how to implement it in the regular class setting. I think the book does an excellant job at explaining how to and gives practical ideas for how to adjust lessons to meet the needs of all students.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely would recommend this book to a varied range of educators. New teachers could use it to better understand differentiation and have some "pre-made" units to refer to as they are honing their classroom craft. Experienced teachers could use it as a "reminder" and for re-invigorating their teaching styles. Teachers of small groups could use it to focus specifically on a target group of students for enrichment and/or remediation. It's practical, it's doable, and it's realistic within the school day time frame and with the other expectations that teachers are required to meet.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this book; more than any of the other book studies I have done. Yes, the theories have not changed and we have heard it before, but I really like having the lessons laid out for us. This has given me a concrete idea of how it looks on paper. I will use several aspects of each of these units in my class this year. I would definitely recommend this book to my collegues. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading this book. It reinforced my ideas about differentiation and gave some great specific examples of planning and implementation. I would recommend this book to other teachers, especially teachers who are not familiar with differentiation. The ideas are timeless- although more technology ideas would be helpful. I do think that the lessons at times were very broad and I would have preferred knowing a grade range and examples of how to change the unit for a different grade. I look forward to implementing ideas with my teammate- CynthiaMer.
ReplyDeleteWell, I would "chunk" different sections for different teachers. I feel that it is easier to implement when it coincides with the curriculum that one is already teaching.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, I know a lot of teachers that have a hard time trying anything new - from what they are already comfortable with. Taking in new information and being able to implement might be a lot more doable this year rather than the multiple initiatives we had last year...
I'm thinking I'm just going to place some of the lessons in our shared planner and see if my colleagues actually read it. LOL Therefore, the ideas are being shared and then if they would like to know more - I'll go further into conversation with them.
I'd recommend it!!!! Especially since it helps differentiate for all students!
I would recommend this book to other educators. I thought there were some good resources within the chapters. I think you have to really search through the book for those elements. I believe that Chapter 1 was excellent. I think the remainder of the chapters were a bit repetitive, and therefore, easy to skim over and not recognize some key points and great ideas. Over all the book was fine.
ReplyDeleteThough I know that we are not required to comment on other people's comments for session 4, I did want to make a point regarding what Betsy said. I agree with Betsy that this would be a good book for new teachers and it would be a great teaching tool.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading ‘Differentiation in Practice’ as it validated my understanding and gave me some ideas for teaching my students. I especially liked the ABC unit and the geometry unit-those seemed the most helpful. I think Part I-A Brief Primer on Differentiation was the portion of the book that provoked the most discussion. This is where conversation [either electronic or in person] begins and this is the heart of a book study. The units of study, while helpful to teachers, did not bring up issues that could stem good discussions. So, if a teacher is looking for a unit of study to try, then I would recommend the separate units in this book. I would also recommend ‘Study Driven’ by Katie Wood Ray, as that professional resource is also full of strategies and techniques to meet the needs of all learners.
ReplyDeleteWhen I first starting reading this book, I just thought it was OK. It didn't seem like any new information. The concepts that the authors discuss are not new topics. However, when I got a chance to look closer at the units, I was really impressed at the different strategies used to create very differentiated lessen. I have used some of the strategies in the different unit, but I appreciate the well thought out units that really incorporates every learner. I think the lessons were explained very well so that a new teacher could understand. I would recommend this book to a friend and already have!
ReplyDeleteI agree with most of the writers before me! I would definately recommend this book for anyone looking for guidance in planning differenciated lessons. I like that it wasn't "pointed" at differenciating for one specific need group and that it could be generalized. I think planning this way would take more time than we have but...having the model makes it more reasonable to try some of the techniques. As we try them we can streamline as all good planners do! As I read through there were two instances where I passed on the lessons almost immediately to people I knew would use them! Thanks for choosing a great resource!
ReplyDeleteI would definitely recommend this book to other educators. It gave me great ideas for how to differentiate lessons in my classroom. The best part about the ideas were that they were doable. Sometimes I feel like we get so overwhelmed by making things so different for different students that it's hard to get motivated to do it. However, this book provided straight forward and meaningful ways to differentiate that actually put the students in control of their learning and take busy work away from both the teacher and student. I think everyone in the classroom, teacher included would benefit from the lessons and ideas in this book.
ReplyDelete