Integrating Differentiated Instruction & Understanding by Design (Connecting Content and Kids) (Paperback)

by Carol Ann Tomlinson (Author), Jay McTighe (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Teachers struggle every day to bring quality instruction to their students. Beset by lists of content standards and accompanying "high-stakes" accountability tests, many educators sense that both teaching and learning have been redirected in ways that are potentially impoverishing for those who teach and those who learn. Educators need a model that acknowledges the centrality of standards but also ensures that students truly understand content and can apply it in meaningful ways. For many educators, Understanding by Design addresses that need.

Simultaneously, teachers find it increasingly difficult to ignore the diversity of the learners who populate their classrooms. Few teachers find their work effective or satisfying when they simply "serve up" a curriculum--even an elegant one--to students with no regard for their varied learning needs. For many educators, Differentiated Instruction offers a framework for addressing learner variance as a critical component of instructional planning.

In this book the two models converge, providing readers fresh perspectives on two of the greatest contemporary challenges for educators: crafting powerful curriculum in a standards-dominated era and ensuring academic success for the full spectrum of learners. Each model strengthens the other. Understanding by Design is predominantly a curriculum design model that focuses on what we teach. Differentiated Instruction focuses on whom we teach, where we teach, and how we teach. Carol Ann Tomlinson and Jay McTighe show you how to use the principles of backward design and differentiation together to craft lesson plans that will teach essential knowledge and skills for the full spectrum of learners.

Connecting content and kids in meaningful ways is what teachers strive to do every day. In tandem, UbD and DI help educators meet that goal by providing structures, tools, and guidance for developing curriculum and instruction that bring to students the best of what we know about effective teaching and learning.

Product Details

• Paperback: 199 pages
• Publisher: ASCD; 1 edition (May 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1416602844
• ISBN-13: 978-1416602842
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 7 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #6,630 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #6 in	Books > Nonfiction > Education > Education Theory > Research
  #11 in	Books > Nonfiction > Education > Education Theory > Educational Psychology
  #15 in	Books > Nonfiction > Education > Lesson Planning

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

51 of 52 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not Really An Integration, June 24, 2006

By	Timothy Haugh (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Each well-known separately in educational circles--McTighe as one of the developers of UbD and Tomlinson as the guru of differentiated instruction--they have come together to write a book that is an attempt to meld their philosophies. In that, they are at best partially successful.

Though I am a supporter of much of the work of both of these authors, I found little new here that hasn't been said better elsewhere. On top of that, I didn't really find this book to be a melding of their ideas. It was more an experience of two people explaining their own thing in alternate stretches of prose with only a modest attempt at linking them together.

For someone not familiar with either author's earlier work, this could be a valuable introduction. On the other hand, I would point a reader to their individual work before suggesting this one.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Text Book, November 11, 2007

By	S. Cornett - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I bought this book because it is the required text for a grad class I am taking, but it is one of the best "required texts" I have had in any course.

I already am familiar with Differentiated Instruction and Understanding by Design, but I found the way they are showing the correlation between the two to be very useful.

The authors don't try to impress the reader with their extensive vocabulary, but rather they explain their ideas in clear concise language. Since I have usually had a long day of teaching before I sit down to tackle the assignment, it is wonderful to have a book that is not a chore to read.

Thanks for a great text!

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Pretty self explanatory to me!, February 2, 2007

By	TeacherForLife - See all my reviews

The information within the text seems to be pretty self-explanatory... not cutting edge. But, the charts and figures are helpful in the planning process!