Visual Tools for Differentiating Reading & Writing Instruction: Strategies to Help Students Make Abstract Ideas Concrete & Accessible

Students who once refused to write out of frustration now eagerly begin each writing assignment making quick sketches and jotting keywords on a storyboard. They then use this tool to compose stories that use sequence, humor, and dialogue. ?? Helps students at all levels make giant strides in composing stories and revising them, taking notes on difficult text, remembering and retelling complex stories, and mastering content knowledge. ?? Helps text-challenged readers and writers excel—and advanced students soar! ?? Serves as an easy assessment tool ?? Includes complete storyboarding workshop ?? Requires readily available classroom materials ?? Foreword by best-selling author Ruth Culham

A freelance illustrator for twenty years, Roger Essley has illustrated five picture books and is the author/illustrator of the picture book Reunion. His artwork can be found in books, magazines, and in the collection of a number of museums, including The Metropolitan Museum of Art. He teaches classroom workshops and residencies and presents at national and regional conferences.

Linda Rief teaches eighth grade at Oyster River Middle School in Durham, New Hampshire. Her published books include 100 Quickwrites, Inside the Writer's-Reader's Notebook, and Seeking Diversity: Language Arts with Adolescents. With Kylene Beers and Robert Probst she co-edited Adolescent Literacy: Turning Promise Into Practice, and for five years she co-edited NCTE's Voices from the Middle journal. In 2000 she was the recipient of NCTE's Edwin A. Hoey Award for Outstanding Middle School Educator in the English Language Arts.

Amy Levy Rocci has 12 years experience as an elementary educator. For the last three years she has developed and implemented an enrichment program that provides critical thinking activities for all students. A presenter at educational venues nationally and locally, Rocci received a BA in Psychology from George Washington University and a MEd from the University of New Hampshire.