For any educator interested in offering student choice but unsure of how to begin, Laurie Westphal’s Differentiating Instruction With Menus approach offers a strategy that will ease fears about loss of control and assure quality work, writes teacher Erin Corrigan-Smith.
Hands-On Physical Science challenges 6th-8th graders to develop ways to solve tasks and answer questions using a hands-on, inquiry-based approach, taking abstract physics and chemistry concepts and make them more concrete and real-world, writes teacher Tracy Albers.
Differentiating Instruction with Menus is great for encouraging middle level students’ voice and choice and allows teachers without a strong science background to feel more comfortable with the content (especially chemistry), writes science teacher-coach Emily Lane.
With its ready-made product menus and immediate applicability, Differentiating Instruction with Menus is one of those books that won’t gather dust, as teachers will turn to it for quick reference throughout the school year, says ELA and gifted facilitator Kim Rensch.
