Drumming to the Beat of a Different Marcher: Finding the Rhythm for Teaching a Differentiated Classroom

Rating:
Summary: Valuable Insight
Review: Dr. Silver's book is a valuable tool for everyone involved in children's education. It is particularly helpful for new teachers and those who feel of frustrated when some students just seem not to learn, no matter how hard we try.

Well=researched and documented, Dr. Silver explains how children are smart in different ways and, therefore, learn differently. While most of us know this from our courses in education, creating a learning environment for all students is very difficult to do in practice.

The book explains, with self-deprecating humor, how to create a learning environment for all the children we teach. It begins with how to manage a classroom and deal with parents. I found the explanation of the different learning styles and how to address them particularly helpful. There are also sections on building a "classroom community" and how to use technology to enhance differentiated instruction.

The book is easy to read and provides a "how to" for new and experiened teachers, as well as an extensive reading list by chapter. I intend to keep it as a reference to use in my own classroom.

Rating:
Summary: An Absolute Must for Today's Educators
Review: Every new educator wishes that they could benefit from the experience of a seasoned master teacher as they begin their journey into the world of classroom teaching-to have that mentor there with you at all times. Especially as they encounter today's classrooms and the students that fill them. I almost laugh now as I think about the scenarios presented in the 1955 movie entitled "Blackboard Jungle" and how those seem to pale in comparison to what teachers face in the year 2003. It is a brand new day in education and the challenges that lie within must be addressed openly, honestly, and directly; to pretend that they don't exist serves no one. And our teachers, whether novice or veteran, must be properly equipped to deal with the problems and issues they will most assuredly face. Enter Dr. Debbie Silver and her first book, "Drumming to the Beat of a Different Marcher", and you know that help is on the way.

Dr. Silver's book serves as a perfect handbook for ALL teachers to use when addressing the issues that must be dealt with in today's classrooms. Because of this, is will become a key publication to reference and use when working in my capacity as a K-12 professional developer. It's focus lies in emphasizing the diversity of today's students and the individual needs they possess. One is immediately struck with how teachers MUST realize the need for addressing the different learning styles and intelligences that a typical classroom of students reflects. Each of these is carefully detailed and explained so that teachers of all levels can recognize the various types of students inhabiting their classrooms. But Dr. Silver doesn't stop by simply letting you know what areas must be dealt with. She goes a step further by offering solutions, resources, readings, web sites, and other key pieces of information that provide the educator with ways to deal with the needs of the students while constructing a truly positive learning community. Told from her first hand experience as a middle grades teacher, university professor, and professional development expert, the advice she offers is nothing less than invaluable.

Thoroughly researched and divided into three components, this book serves as an easy read with notable quotes, clever cartoons and graphics, and delightful humor and poetry that stems from the author's experience and obvious personality. With important reform based instructional strategies such as cooperative learning and the learning cycle highlighted, attention is also paid toward the development of classroom management skills, how to involve parents in their child's education, integrating technology into the curriculum, establishing the community within your classroom, developing socialization skills within your students, and helping students become productive members of society. The tone remains incredibly positive throughout and the reader is left inspired about what each of us can do to help our students, schools, and systems become what they can and should be.

Dr. Debbie Silver not only challenges, inspires, and instructs us in her first literary effort, but she openly and unabashedly celebrates the art and the heart of teaching. And in doing so, she causes each of us to not only recall why we became teachers in the first place, but to dream of what we can still become. By guiding us to the realization that each of us does indeed march to the beat of a different drummer, she rallies us to allow each of our own students to find their own beat while providing the tools and opportunities necessary for them to thrive and succeed, even in the classroom "jungles" of 2003. Because of this, I offer nothing less than my heartiest endorsement of this book and encourage any teacher, whether novice or veteran, to take it and use it as a handbook for professional development and success; it has the ability to leave an indelible mark on you and your students. It certainly did on me.