Dodge, Judith (2005). Differentiation in Action: A Complete Resource with Research-Supported Strategies to Help You Plan and Organize Differentiated Instruction and Achieve Success with All Learners, Grades 4-12. New York: Scholastic.

Reaching all learners, from the advanced to the struggling, while trying to meet ever tougher instructional standards, is a difficult task in today's highly heterogeneous and overcrowded schools. Differentiation in Action by Judith Dodge adds to a growing body of literature addressing this important issue. Written from the perspective of applying discoveries in brain research to address learner differences, Differentiation in Action is first and foremost a how-to manual for any teacher working in grades 4 and up. As manuals go, this is a particularly well-constructed one, with its many useful activity pages, example lesson plans, and student work samples. A particularly nice feature of the book is its large collection of insightful margin annotations.

Pitching differentiation to teachers with different interest and experience levels

A consultant to school districts, Dodge has a keen sense of what will prove useful to teachers with different interests and levels of experience. Those new to differentiation will find concrete descriptions of all of the basic tools of differentiated teaching, including choice boards, contracts, evaluation rubrics, learning logs, and tiered lessons. In the area of classroom management — a key consideration where novice teachers are concerned — Chapter 6, "Maximizing Student Learning with Flexible Grouping" stands out for its comprehensive presentation of grouping strategies. Additional classroom management tips appear on almost every page of the book, most often within the idea boxes and teacher-reflection boxes that populate the margins

Teachers already versed in differentiation will also find plenty of stimulating material. "Show Me the Research" and "Putting Research into Practice," two recurring sections of the book, discuss the research behind the applications contained in each chapter, and challenge teachers to engage in action research themselves. Represented in these discussions are some of the most influential ideas in education, including Bloom's Taxonomies, Learning Styles, Multiple Intelligences, and Vygotskian theories. Suggestion boxes with references to additional readings and teaching resources will also prove particularly interesting to more experienced readers.

Regardless of their level of experience, all practitioners will benefit from the professional development activities presented in the "Study Guide." To promote collegial circle discussions, Dodge provides a framework for groups of teachers to reflect on their classroom practices as they work through the book. This is a novel and valuable contribution of the book.

The missing links: Workload and technology

While Differentiation in Action constitutes an excellent resource on differentiation, it would have benefited from a discussion of two closely connected topics: workload and technology. When it comes to differentiated instruction, issues of workload loom large in the minds of teachers. Questions like these come to mind:

• "Where will I find the time and energy to create more activities?"
• "With on-going assessment being a key component of differentiated teaching, does this mean I have to be writing and grading tests all of the time?"
• "How will I keep track of what each student is doing?"

Technology provides partial answers to these questions and offers unprecedented opportunities for addressing learner differences in today's overcrowded classrooms. For example, existing computer applications make it possible to create large databanks of differentiated activities and assessments for teachers to contribute to, and draw from. As for grading and tracking of student progress, both can be facilitated through the use of pedagogical software. In disciplines such as language arts, foreign languages, and math, computer mediated instruction also allows students to practice the more mechanical skills on their own, thereby freeing teachers to focus their efforts on other aspects of instruction. Likewise, virtual centers and stations have the potential to improve learning, through increased flexibility and opportunities for engaging students in meaningful work both in and out of the classroom.

To be fair, among books on differentiation, this book is not alone in it is failure to adequately address matters of technology and workload. Regrettably, the general lack of attention to these issues represents a missed opportunity, and has so far limited the growth and development of the field.

Conclusion

Notwithstanding this single blind spot, Differentiation in Action is a valuable addition to the literature on differentiated instruction, and can be expected to benefit any teacher, whether new or experienced.

Pages: 160     Price: $19.99     ISBN: 0439650917

Reviewed by Maria Carreira, professor of Spanish linguistics at California State University, Long Beach. Her publications focus on Spanish in the United States, Spanish as a world language, and foreign language pedagogy. She is the co-author of a beginning Spanish textbook (Nexos, Houghton Mifflin, 2005) and of a forthcoming textbook for teaching Spanish to bilingual Latinos (S’ se puede, Houghton Mifflin). Dr. Carreira is currently working on adapting the practices of differentiated instruction to foreign language instruction at the secondary and post secondary levels.