Differentiated Literacy and Language Art Strategies for the Elementary Classroom

Although it can seem a daunting task to individualize learning for all students, this book provides specific “how-to” techniques to make it happen, equipping you with the tools you need to differentiate instruction for all students: general education, gifted and talented, challenged, or English Language Learners (ELL). Addressing the reader with an engaging personalized tone, expert Dr. Shellie Hipsky demystifies the process of differentiated instruction as you tour elementary school classrooms with diverse populations and observe research-based strategies that transform theory into practical differentiated instructional techniques for literacy and language arts skills. You will gain valuable insights from seasoned elementary teachers through real life concrete examples, find advice for implementing strategies in literacy-based classrooms, learn how to create an effective learning environment, and utilize appropriate instructional techniques based on students’ abilities, learning profiles, and interests. Additionally, you will explore strategies to differentiate in the reading areas of emerging literacy skills, vocabulary, comprehension, and fluency as well as writing, speaking, listening, and content area reading. Every chapter in the book includes specific illuminating classroom examples, questions for reflecting on the reading, active engagement ideas for further exploration of the topic, and conclusions. Strategies to simplify documentation, including the use of the Literacy and Language Arts Learning Skills Check Sheet, Differentiated Choice Chart, and a Portfolio Record Sheet, provide ways to organize important student information. A unique journal kept by an elementary teacher, whose classroom is visited in the text, rounds out the book as it demonstrates a year’s worth of successful implementation of differentiation assessment and instruction. Differentiated Literacy and Language Arts Strategies for the Elementary Classroom focuses on the needs of pre-service teachers and yet it has ample strategies to positively impact the classrooms of current teachers.

Dr. Shellie Hipsky taught special and general education from the kindergarten to doctoral level. She wrote ProActive Publications’ (2005) The Drama Discovery Curriculum and Lincoln Interactive’s (2006) The Arts Alive Textbook. Currently, Hipsky is an Educational Consultant at the University of Pittsburgh and an Assistant Professor at Robert Morris University.