Vertical Differentiation for Gifted, Advanced, and High-Potential Students outlines 25 engaging tools and strategies to stretch student thinking, promote deep learning, and provide layers of challenge in the classroom and beyond.
Each strategy is expertly designed to foster deep inquiry and conceptual understanding by guiding students to justify conclusions, apply critical and creative thinking, develop solutions to real-world problems, and transfer learning across contexts. Packed with both "tried and true" thinking models and new, innovative ideas with concrete examples, this resource ensures that no matter where students are in their learning journey, they’ll find themselves challenged and engaged.
This book is essential reading for educators looking to support and extend student thinking across content areas and grade levels.
Table of Contents:
Introduction, 1. What is Vertical Differentiation?, 2. The Big Picture: Frameworks for Thinking, 3. Strategies for Analysis, 4. Strategies for Problem Solving: Understanding the Problem, 5. Strategies for Problem Solving: Creating and Evaluating Solutions, 6. Strategies for Creative Thinking: Making Connections, 7. Strategies for Constructing Arguments, 8. Strategies for Metacognition, 9. Planning for Deep Learning and Differentiation, 10. Appendix: Further Reading: Theory/Research to Practice, 11. References
About the Author :
Emily L. Mofield is Assistant Professor in the College of Education at Lipscomb University, USA. She has over 20 years of experience in the field of gifted education in a variety of roles including teacher, district leader, researcher, assistant professor, and author.
Review :
"As a gifted educator and a differentiation coach, this book was a must-have for my professional library. I highlighted or flagged almost every inch of this text! Mofield stated that she wrote the book she wished she had, and it has become the book I didn’t even know I needed, but now I cannot imagine living without! Vertical Differentiation for Gifted, Advanced, and High-Potential Students features 25 strategies to stretch student thinking in ELA, math, science, and social studies to support both critical and creative thinking. As Mofield charges educators in her dedication, "Find the light and fan the flame!" Her new text certainly equips and empowers me to do just that."
– Stephanie Higgs, Gifted Educator & Differentiation Coach, USA
"Vertical Differentiation is a key text for anyone teaching gifted and talented learners. Dr. Mofield has provided practical and accessible scaffolds for instruction that allow for our highest achieving students to extend their thinking and provided a vast resource for educators to utilize when increasing academic rigor and productive struggle. The Stretch Prompts have become an important component of not only my planning process, but have proven to be an excellent resource when a student needs to extend their thinking in the moment. This text is rich in strategies that will continue to challenge educators to consider best methods and strategies in Gifted instruction."
– Emily Graves, ESL and Gifted Endorsed Educator, USA
"Possibly the greatest challenge of a classroom teacher is to differentiate for the diverse learning needs of his or her students. Teachers are stretched so rewriting entire curricula is not an ideal solution. While innovative strategies can be helpful, teachers do not have the time nor training to create the resources to use in their classrooms. This book, Vertical Differentiation for Gifted, Advanced, and High-Potential Students, solves for those challenges. By providing 25 strategies already in use by teachers of the gifted and others, the learning curve is greatly reduced. Dr. Mofield walks the teacher through how to design and deliver engaging experiences that challenge the students to think deeper, solve problems, and transfer learning. She provides content-specific examples, templates to print and use, and research to support the strategies. A bonus is that all of the strategies are good for all students. I immediately added these strategies to our classroom support "toolbox" and bought copies of the book for all content directors. I highly recommend this book for any teacher who desires to expand his or her repertoire of effective strategies and grow his or her ability to differentiate with ease."
– Monica Simonds, Director of Advanced Learning Programs and Services in Richardson Independent School District, USA
