Leading and Managing a Differentiated Classroom Book Review

Leading and Managing a Differentiated Classroom by Carol Ann Tomlinson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I read this book for a book/discussion group at my school. I'm a big fan of differentiated instruction and use layered curriculum (a way of formatting differentiation) in my classroom. While this book has a lot of really great advice and information in it, there are also some shortcomings. The book itself is quite short and for a new teachers probably does not give enough guidance to actually begin differentiating well in the classroom. This book seemed to focus more on trying to sell the philosophy rather than putting it into practice in the classroom (although it does provide some good examples, they are sporadic). It does provide a lot of great explanation in this area (ex: differentiation is not just a list of various activities, but an educational philosophy and approach to teaching), but fell a bit short on some of the practical applications of differentiated instruction.
I'm glad I read this book and would definitely recommend it to other teachers. I would also suggest it be read in conjunction with Kathy Nunley's "Layered Curriculum" which focuses less on selling an educator on the philosophy of differentiated education and more on putting it into place and managing it in the classroom.

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