Differentiating Instruction with Style : Aligning Teacher and Learner Intelligences for Maximum Achievement

by Gayle H. Gregory

• ISBN13: 9780761931621
• ISBN10: 0761931627
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-05-18
• Publisher: Corwin Pr

Summary

"There is complete coverage of the research. The tables and charts are great. The chapter on teaching thinking is wonderful." -William Fitzhugh, Teacher Reisterstown Elementary School, MD "Synthesizes a lot of great information into one resource. . . . It allows the reader to see the relationship between the different learning styles, thinking styles, and intelligences." -Steve Hutton, Elementary School Principal, Villa Hills, KY Make the right choices for the diverse learners in your classroom by differentiating instruction for learning styles, thinking styles, and multiple intelligences! This important new bridge between essential theory and classroom practice provides educators with an instructional repertoire that responds creatively to learners' differences. A synthesis of key research combined with more than 100 instructional and analytic tools and templates makes this an ideal resource for teachers and instructional leaders. Carefully planned chapters cover: Core principles of brain-compatible learning Core theories from Jung, Gregorc, Kolb, McCarthy, Lowry and others about learning styles Core theories from Costa, Gardner, Sternberg, Goleman, and others about intelligence Core taxonomies from Bloom, Quellmalz, Krathwohl, Williams, Eberle, and others about thinking and creativity Step-by-step planning tools to help you select what works for your own teaching style from among the key principles of all these core theories

Table of Contents

Preface	vii
Acknowledgments	ix
About the Author	xi
Introduction: Differentiating Instruction With Style	1	(4)
Brain research and educational research tell us that people learn in many different ways and styles. This chapter provides a brief overview of the scope of available theories of intelligences and thinking styles. You don't need to know every detail of every theory, but you can use an understanding of learning styles theory to explore the diversity that each learner brings to the classroom.
1. Learning, Growth, and the Brain	5	(18)
The natural process of learning involves emotional, social, physical, cognitive, and reflective learning systems. Teachers can use an understanding of these learning systems, of common brain principles, and of how the left and right brain hemispheres interact to create safe, friendly, and challenging classrooms; to plan brain-compatible lessons; and to select teaching strategies that engage both hemispheres of the brain.
2. Learning Styles	23	(36)
Understanding how people prefer to learn involves surveying them, listening to them, observing them, and understanding how their preferences for visual, auditory, or kinesthetic modes affect their learning. Important theories about learning preferences and learning styles have been offered to us by researchers in psychology and education, including Carl Jung, Anthony Gregorc, David Kolb, Bernice McCarthy, Don Lowry, Richard Strong, Harvey Silver, and J.R. Hanson. To synthesize their many theories into four primary learning styles, we will meet beach ball learners, puppy learners, microscope learners, and clipboard learners, introducing principles for differentiated lesson planning and instruction that work for all.
3. Intelligences: IQ or Many?	59	(32)
What is intelligence and what role does intelligence play in growth? This chapter explores several important theories about intelligence: Art Costa's 12 intelligent behaviors, Howard Gardner's 8 multiple intelligences, Robert Sternberg's triarchic model of intelligence, and Daniel Coleman's 5 domains of emotional intelligence. We will also look at how those theories of intelligence correlate with natural learning systems, learning styles, and research-based instructional practices. You will find a large variety of tools here: surveys and checklists to assess learners' multiple intelligences; brainstorming tools for instructional planning across content areas, learning styles, and intelligences; and choice boards for differentiated instruction.
4. Thinking Skills and Styles	91	(54)
Thinking skills can be taught, and this chapter offers a generous collection of models, tools, templates, systems, and samples to show you how. Topics include frequently asked questions about teaching thinking, metacognition, and the essential thinking skills needed for success in the 21st-century workplace. Also covered are the essential taxonomies: Bloom's taxonomy of critical thinking, Quellmalz's thinking taxonomy, Krathwohl's affective taxonomy, Williams's creative taxonomy, and Eberle's SCAMPER method. Along with the taxonomies are instructional tools, including cubing, choice boards, quality questioning, graphic organizers, brainstorming tools, reflection tools, and feedback tools.
5. Making the Right Choices for Your Classroom	145	(8)
How can teachers cope with the complexity of research and available models concerning learning preferences, learning styles, multiple intelligences, best practice, and thinking skills? The reality is that we cannot use every strategy for every student, but we can use differentiated strategies to provide variety for our students, and we can use teacher reflection to examine our plans to see if we are attending to the diversity in our classrooms while also focusing on the standards. This chapter offers a step-by-step planning template for differentiated lessons and a sample lesson for critiquing. Also offered are reflection tools to guide teachers in planning instruction that is brain compatible, taps a variety of multiple intelligences, offers satisfying learning activities for all learning styles, and builds in thinking skills at all levels of the taxonomies.
Bibliography	153	(8)
Index	161