Differentiation In Middle And High School: Strategies To Engage All Learners

Academic pressures, time constraints, and the diverse needs of teenagers can make it tough to differentiate instruction in the middle and high school grades. But you can overcome those challenges and create learning pathways for all students be more successful learners—regardless of background, native language, learning style, motivation, or school savvy. The authors, two veteran practitioners, draw on their expertise and years of collaboration with teachers in the field to 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 and tailor tasks accordingly.
• Present students with avenues to take in, process, and produce knowledge that appeal to their varied interests and learning profiles.
• Navigate roadblocks to implementing 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 differentiated instruction strategies, Differentiation in Middle and High School will show you classroom-tested ways to better engage students and help them succeed every day.

Table of Contents

Foreword— by Carol Ann Tomlinson

Acknowledgments

Introduction: Is This Even Possible?

1. Building a Healthy Classroom Community
2. Articulating Learning Goals
3. Constructing Useful Pre-Assessments
4. Hooking Students into Instruction
5. Providing Interactive Learning Experiences
6. Checking for Understanding Using Formative Assessment
7. Differentiating According to Student Readiness
8. Designing Differentiated Transfer Tasks for Assessment
9. Navigating Potential Roadblocks to Implementing Differentiation

Conclusion: Gauging Success and Making Progress the Goal

References