Curating Resources #4 - Differentiated Instruction

Hello readers!

For this week's resource, we were asked to find a site that helps teachers implement differentiated instruction. For this week, I have decided to discuss How to Differentiate Instruction in Academically Diverse Classrooms (3rd edition) by Carol Ann Thomlinson. In her novel, published in March of 2017, Thomlinson decries myths surrounding what differentiated instruction is, provides solid and concrete examples towards what differentiated instruction is in planning and in practice, and finishes her novel with a vast number of resources to help support teachers in starting their own differentiated lesson planning.

I have had the pleasure of reading through a fair chunk of the book, and can vouch for its usefulness; as a teacher in the 21st century, there is little to no excuse anymore for not understanding the needs of your learners. Thus, I have found this book to be incredibly helpful towards furthering my understanding of differentiated instruction, as this time in my growth is incredibly crucial.

The resource was written by Carol Ann Thomlinson, who has an extensive portfolio of being a teacher, administrator and editor (as outlined on her website). As a result, I am inclined to take the information provided within the book as one that comes from extensive experience and reflection.

One of the issues towards accessing this resource is that it is not open-access; one must purchase or rent it out from their local library (if they have it available). Thus, finding this book may become difficult for some and costly for others. A preview is available on the ASCD website, which can give readers a spring board to continue their research, but the remainder of the book must be bought. I’ll point out for you that the resource section of the book is available online for free, which is quite the bonus!

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