Summaries and Customer Reviews are supplied by Amazon.com

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.

Average Customer Rating:

Great Resource for Teachers	Customer Rating:
This book was recommended by a colleague. It is a great resources for all teachers at any level.

Extremely dull and repetitive

Customer Rating:

I had to purchase this book for a grad class, and wasn't able to make it through more than a few pages at a time. The concepts behind Understanding by Design and Differentiated Instruction really aren't that hard to grasp; in fact, I think I sufficiently summed it all up to a friend in about 10 seconds, so I fail to see the need for 175 pages on it. It gets redundant by the second chapter, and they spend far too much time expounding on why UBD and DI are so necessary, rather than actually giving you helpful advice on how to implement them.

A Must Read

Customer Rating:

As a professional educator who is interested in curriculum development and student success, I couldn't put this book down! Tomlinson an McTighe are both experts on their perspective topics of differentiation and assessment, so the pairing of these two made for informative reading. We want to reach every student to the point that they understand the essential learnings, and these two make numerous practical suggestions so that practitioners in the field can better design and implement plans for reaching students' needs, which would naturally lead to academic improvement.

Excellent	Customer Rating:
Excellent book for the differentiated class I am taking. Very fully explained and detailed.

Good Text Book

Customer Rating:

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!