Supporting Differentiated Instruction: A Professional Learning Communities Approach

Examine how PLCs provide the decision-making platform for the rigorous work of differentiated classroom instruction. A practical guide to implementing differentiation in the classroom, this book offers a road map to effective teaching that responds to diverse learning needs. Takeaway objectives at the beginning of each chapter guide discussion, and each chapter ends with action options of highly interactive strategies.

Benefits:

• Utilize chapter takeaways to guide discussion for all teachers at all grade levels.
• Gain highly interactive action options to accomplish chapter takeaways.
• Use differentiated instruction in PLCs to maximize student achievement.
• Explore summaries of relevant theories and research on building teams, forging shared beliefs, dissecting data, attaining consensus, and teaching responsively.

Contents:
Introduction: PLCs and Differentiated Instruction
Chapter 1: All About Collaboration
Chapter 2: All About Differentiation
Chapter 3: All About the Learners
Chapter 4: Changing the Content
Chapter 5: Changing the Process
Chapter 6: Changing the Product
Chapter 7: Diverse-Learner Strategies
Chapter 8: Changing Lessons for Student Success
Chapter 9: Changing Units for Student Success
Chapter 10: Next Steps

Robin J. Fogarty, PhD, has trained educators throughout the world in curriculum, instruction, and assessment strategies. She has taught at all levels, from kindergarten to college, served as an administrator, and consulted with state departments and ministries of education in the United States, Puerto Rico, Russia, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, Great Britain, Singapore, Korea and the Netherlands.

Robin has written articles for Educational Leadership, Phi Delta Kappan, and the Journal of Staff Development. She is author of Brain-Compatible Classrooms, Ten Things New Teachers Need to Succeed, and Literacy Matters. She is coauthor of How to Integrate the Curricula, The Adult Learner, A Look at Transfer, Close the Achievement Gap, Twelve Brain Principles That Make the Difference, Nine Best Practices That Make the Difference, and Informative Assessment. Her work includes a leadership series called From Staff Room to Classroom.

Dr. Fogarty earned a doctorate in curriculum and human resource development from Loyola University Chicago, a master's in instructional strategies from National-Louis University, and a bachelor's in early childhood education from the State University of New York at Potsdam.

Brian M. Pete comes from a family of educators--college professors, school superintendents, teachers, and teachers of teachers. He has a rich background in professional development and has worked with adult learners in districts and educational agencies throughout the United States, Europe, Asia, Australia, and New Zealand.

He has an eye for the "teachable moment" and the words to describe what he sees as skillful teaching. He delivers dynamic, humor-filled sessions that energize the audiences with engaging strategies that transfer into immediate and practical on-site applications.

Brian is coauthor of From Staff Room to Classroom, From Staff Room to Classroom II, Twelve Principles That Make the Difference, Nine Best Practices That Make the Difference, The Adult Learner, and A Look at Transfer.

Brian earned a bachelor of science from DePaul University in Chicago and is pursuing a master's in fiction writing from Columbia College Chicago.