K-12 Teachers of Writing

If you are a K-12 teacher of writing, please let us know which technology tools you use to teach writing and whether the tools are helping to improve students' writing.

As writers ourselves, we are interested in the strategies teachers use with K-12 students to ignite an interest in writing and to help them learn how to write effectively.

As former teachers of writing at the secondary and college level (pre-Web 2.0) and as online instructors now, we read graduate-level daily discussion postings and weekly papers. We notice that written communication continues to be an area of struggle for many, including teachers. We are not certain why graduate level students who have had at least 16 years of education and practice have not learned to write clearly and concisely.

You may want to take a look at the Bob Costas Grants for the Teaching of Writing to see what your innovative colleagues are doing. This year's competition is over, but you can email to ask about the 2010 competition.

Tiering vs. Tracking

Advocates of differentiated instruction are sometimes asked whether tiering instruction is the same as tracking students.

Answer: tiering is NOT the same as tracking.

Tracking refers to the decades-old practice of splitting students into homogenous groups based on roughly the same intelligence level. The homogeneous groups typically stay together and move from class to class throughout the day.

Tiering refers to the creating of flexible groups within the classroom to match learners' instructional needs with the learning at hand. Tiering can apply to readiness, learning profile, interest, process (activities), and assessment. Flexible grouping is just as it sounds; students are regrouped according to the learning at hand and regrouped again based on the learning at hand. Tiering takes place only in the individual classroom.

Educational Technology Leadership Conference

If you’re in Michigan in June, we’ll be co-presenting at two different sessions at a new conference called the Educational Technology Leadership Conference on the 22nd at Holt High School. It’s co-sponsored by MACUL (Michigan Association for Computer Users in Learning) and MIEM (Michigan Institute for Educational Management). This event merges two conferences that have been around for some time. Check out this link to learn more: We hope to see you there!

Two new online courses on DI +Tech!

We’ve been a part of some exciting projects that we’d like to tell you about. Earlier this spring, we completed a set of videos for a content provider that partners with universities, colleges and school districts to offer courses for graduate and continuing education credits for teachers. Check out Knowledge Delivery Systems later in the summer for our course on differentiating instruction with technology.


And, we’ve almost finished writing the online class that we will be teaching in the near future for the M.S. in Instructional Media offered by Discovery Education and Wilkes University. It’s called EDIM 503: Differentiation Supported by Technology. Check it out!

Exciting News!

We’re thrilled to share with you that we recently had the chance to view the cover of our new book (forthcoming this fall)! Here is the cover of Differentiating Instruction with Technology in Middle School Classrooms! Look for it in the ISTE bookstore or on Amazon.

Online Lit Circles

Literature Circles have long been a favorite instructional strategy, particularly in middle grade classrooms.

If you have never used the Lit Circle strategy before, you can read more about it at Read Write Think. And at Instructional Strategies Online, you'll find a treasure trove of helpful materials for starting your own.

But why not kick an already familiar idea up a notch? You can use a Wiki or Blog application to start your online circle. Better yet, check out a terrific document from Terry Taylor who reports on her experience with Lit Circles: Online Literature Circles: an Engaging Way to Learn

At NECC 2008 in San Antonio, we met students in grades 4-5 who were participating in an online Lit Circle set up by the San Antonio ISD. The students absolutely glowed as they talked about their online Lit Circle experience! In fact, they could hardly wait to read their next book so that they could participate in its Lit Circle. Talk about enthusiasm for reading!

Michigan Association of Computer Users in Learning (MACUL)

We met two terrific audiences during our presentations at the MACUL Conference in Detroit on March 19-20. In the first session, we showed middle school educators how they could use technology to differentiate by interest. In the second session, we focused on writing, offering elementary teachers several ways that students can create digital "books."

In talking with participants before, during, and after the presentations, we learned that teachers are eager to try new strategies that incorporate technology. We are thrilled about their enthusiasm to redefine teaching and learning in Michigan classrooms.