1 Differentiated Classroom

I am a recently retired teacher with 30 years of experience in elementary education. Most of my career was spent in small schools in Alaska where I taught in multi-age classrooms. Learning how to easily and effectively differentiate instruction and meet students where there were, rather than where I thought they should be, became the keys to my survival and the success of my students in both traditional and non-traditional classrooms. I firmly believe that all students learn at different rates, at different times, and in different ways. I challenge each of us to examine our core beliefs about how students learn best. My hope is that my resources help you become more adept at ways to differentiate your instruction as you move away from the rigid "one size fits all" framework found in most schools today to a model of education that is more flexible; more inclusive of learning differences, background knowledge, strengths, and weaknesses; and most importantly, more student centered.

My unique experience and expertise are in the development of and implementation of the first standards-based, performance-based school system in the nation. At many times, my district teaching and leadership team felt like we were building the plane while we were flying it. This experience, however, gave all of us the unique insights which provided us the opportunity to become teacher leaders in the state of Alaska who helped other districts and teachers reinvent their traditional classrooms and schools into performance-based educational environments that increased student engagement, accountability, and achievement. I had the good fortune to work with district teams across the state to develop their own standards and assessments that effectively measured student performance against consistent and easy to understand standards that all stakeholders knew and understood. If you would like to hear more our story, follow me above or email me at 1differentiatedclassroom@gmail.com. I'd love to hear from you and get your feedback about my resources. I am new to producing them for sale and welcome any continuous improvement ideas that can help me better meet your needs.

• Chugach School District Category Champion, Alaska Performance Excellence Award, 2009 • Chugach School District Category Champion, Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award for Excellence in Education, 2001 • Teacher of the Year nominee two times – Southeast Island School District, 1998, 1999. • Coach for Battle of the Books state championship team, 1999.