Books by Wormeli, Bloland, Coehlo, Gregory and Kuzmich, Lenz and Deshler, and Tomlinson

Fair Isn't Always Equal: Assessing & Grading in the Differentiated Classroom by Rick Wormeli (Stenhouse, Portland, ME, 2006)

Rick Wormeli thoroughly addresses assessment and grading practices in differentiated middle and high school classrooms, but goes far beyond. He also offers an outstanding general guide for supporting colleagues as they move toward successful practices for differentiated teaching. Defining differentiation as "doing whatever it takes to maximize student learning at every turn, including giving them the tools to handle anything that is undifferentiated," his book helps establish a mind-set for basing instruction on formal and informal assessments. From how to focus on EEK (essential and enduring knowledge) or KUD (know, understand, able to do) when designing great assessments to how to create responsive gradebook and report card formats, this resource provides compelling insights and models. Wormeli helps the reader consider questionable currently popular grading practices, and he also identifies approaches to avoid. Wormeli's thoughtful discussions explore creating good test questions, developing substantive versus fluff assignments, tiering assessments, and establishing conditions for redoing work for full credit. A goal of differentiated instruction, according to Wormeli, is not to make learning easier for students, but to provide "the appropriate challenge that enables students to thrive." This book stimulates deep reflection and offers practical suggestions for making wise instructional decisions that will be fair to all students. A glossary of assessment and grading terms is included.

Ready, Willing, and Able: Teaching English to Gifted, Talented, and Exceptionally Conscientious Adolescents by Dagny D. Bloland (Heinemann, Portsmouth, NH, 2006)

Author and veteran middle and high school teacher Dagny Bloland uses the acronym GTEC (gifted, talented, and exceptionally conscientious) to describe her students. Although some believe gifted students can adapt classroom activities by themselves, she emphasizes the need for thoughtful, differentiated instruction, insisting, "We can't ask our students― even the highest achievers― to find their own way." With a friendly voice, Bloland shares how she blends knowledge of the teaching craft and her content when meeting the specific needs of gifted students. She offers practical advice for working with parents and provides examples of purposeful opportunities for their involvement in the curriculum. With a book club called "Parents Get Reading Time, Too!" Bloland creates opportunities for networking and community building among parents.

Independent reading is at the core of her instruction. She also describes how to use canonical texts to help students grow as readers by providing support before, during, and after reading. Through a reading log laced with activities, she incorporates partner reading and allows for differentiated instruction and formative assessments. For writing instruction, Bloland recommends coaching writing in the zone of proximal development and teaching students to produce reader-based prose. Large- and small-group discussions using such techniques as squishy ball scaffolding are important for building a social safety net in the classroom. In her chapter entitled "The Cool Web of Language," Bloland shares detailed directions for a linguistics project and also describes how she uses sentence diagramming as a valuable graphic organizer with a lesson based on the speeches of Winston Churchill.

Rubrics, booklists, self-assessments, sample letters to parents and students, model assignments, and adaptations for regular-level and heterogeneous classes are featured throughout. Appendixes include reading logs, a sample multigenre paper with its time line and rubric, and a sentence diagramming guide.

Adding English: A Guide to Teaching in Multilingual Classrooms by Elizabeth Coelho (Pippen, Don Mills, Ontario, 2004)

Elizabeth Coelho's title Adding English was carefully selected as a reminder that students need to add English to their language repertoires, not replace it. She presents basic principles and exemplary practices that will help teachers support students who are learning English at the same time they are learning curriculum content.

The resource's thirteen chapters are grouped into four sections. Starting with "A Welcoming Environment" for parents and students, she describes stages of the adjustment period, successful receptions and orientations, appropriate assessment and placement, and inviting, inclusive classrooms. In the "How English Works" section, explicit information on the phonology and grammar of the English language, vocabulary acquisition, and sociolinguistic competence is provided along with implications for teaching English language learners. The next section reviews the research on language acquisition and describes how to create a supportive language learning environment. Incorporating students' languages into the classroom to support learning is recommended. The final section, "Language Learning across the Curriculum," is filled with strategies for integrating content learning and language development and features a lesson planning framework. A developmental continuum provides a rationale for differentiated instruction. Particular attention is paid to the writing process and before-, during-, and after-reading strategies. Many of the terms used throughout are defined in the glossary. All chapters point the reader to additional books, articles, websites, and videos. Sidebar tips, photos, and cartoons contribute to the overall appeal. This well-organized, clear guide offers a wealth of knowledge and advice for all who teach in multilingual classrooms.

Differentiated Literacy Strategies for Student Growth and Achievement in Grades 7-12 by Gayle H. Gregory and Lin Kuzmich (Corwin Press, Thousand Oaks, CA, 2005)

For today's students, basic reading skills are no longer enough. According to Gayle Gregory and Lin Kuzmich, student learning must be accelerated in four core literacy domains: functional literacy, content-area literacy, technological literacy, and innovative or creative literacy. Emphasizing the importance of creating a climate for literacy learning and also considering what brain research tells us about adolescent learners and learning styles, Gregory and Kuzmich offer a toolkit of well-researched strategies for teachers of diverse learners. The authors define each type of literacy and spotlight key instructional practices across the curriculum that have the best chance of enhancing that literacy learning for middle and high school students. Many tables and other graphics support the text. For instance, in the section on innovative and creative literacy, a graphic organizer on eliminating roadblocks is supplied to stimulate practical and adaptive thinking.

The final chapter provides samples of thematic, standards-based units that support differentiated literacy in various content areas. It includes a template for designing learning needs contracts that will allow students to indicate changes in assignments they may need in order to demonstrate their learning in a particular unit. Gregory and Kuzmich stress that "The future belongs to those of our students who attain the empowering level of literacy to reinvent themselves over a lifetime." This handbook contains hundreds of suggestions for planning instruction that will support all students in their literacy growth.

Teaching Content to All: Evidence-Based Inclusive Practices for Middle and Secondary Schools by B. Keith Lenz and Donald D. Deshler with Brenda R. Kissam (Pearson, Boston, 2004)

A comprehensive resource, Teaching Content to All is an appropriate text for secondary teachers who are willing to think deeply in new ways about their academically diverse classes. The book is designed to "provide secondary teachers with effective planning and teaching routines to help them address the learning needs of all students and create a truly inclusive classroom." Each of its seven chapters explores key pedagogies and practices for diversity such as creating meaningful course maps and establishing classroom learning communities that have principles, learning rituals, and performance options. The reader is guided through the sections by critical self-test questions, rich scenarios, invitations to focus and reflect, and a wealth of graphic aids.

For strategic teaching, a curriculum planning process using the acronym SMARTER planning is advocated. In this linear process, teachers shape the critical questions, map the critical content, analyze for learning difficulties, reach enhancement decisions, teach strategically, evaluate mastery, and revisit outcomes. Chapters conclude with summaries, recommended websites, suggested readings, extensive references, and ideas for implementation. Appendixes offer a framework for school redesign and reform, specific content examples of SMARTER planning, research-based strategies for student-focused interventions, ideas for enhancing textbooks, and a glossary of terms related to differentiated instruction.

Fulfilling the Promise of the Differentiated Classroom: Strategies and Tools for Responsive Teaching by Carol Ann Tomlinson (Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, Alexandria, VA, 2003)

According to Carol Ann Tomlinson, "The goal of a differentiated classroom is to plan actively and consistently to help each learner move as far and as fast as possible along a learning continuum." Responsive teaching is required to meet the challenge of "being many things to many different young learners." To illustrate the why of differentiated teaching, she uses a clockwork metaphor. Its three interrelated and interdependent cogs of differentiation represent the needs of the students, the role of the teacher, and the role of curriculum and instruction in the classroom. Emphasizing the crucial importance of forming connections with all students, Tomlinson stresses that the classroom environment must be inviting and the curriculum must be important, focused, and engaging. Some of the detailed classroom scenarios feature positive communication, effective routines, shared responsibility, support systems, two-tiered inquiry instruction, and much more.

To further expand on the how of differentiated instruction, the book offers a section, called "Toolbox," replete with twenty-four examples of useful surveys, checklists, rubrics, learning contracts, anchor activity sheets, and other bright ideas such as thinkdots and think-tac-toe. All could be adapted for use across the curriculum. Tomlinson's combination of solid theoretical underpinnings and practical ideas makes this text on differentiated instruction a valuable one.

Sheila Cantlebary is a reading content specialist at the Ohio Resource Center. As a former teacher in Columbus Public Schools, she taught English, language arts, and reading (7-12), served as a K-12 English language arts coordinator, and was a teacher in the Apple Classrooms of Tomorrow program. Her teaching experience also includes facilitating State Institute for Reading Instruction and English Language Arts Academy sessions.

Return to top