Dare to Differentiate, Third Edition

Danny Brassell, PhD, is a reading motivation expert and former Professor in the Teacher Education Department at California State University, Dominguez Hills. Dr. Brassell is an experienced classroom teacher who has worked with students ranging from preschoolers to rocket scientists, and he has published numerous articles and books. A reformed reluctant reader now dedicated to creating passionate readers, Dr. Brassell founded the Lazy Readers’ Book Club (www.lazyreaders.com), which provides recommendations for “cool short books” for all ages. His workshops have motivated audiences across the country to create cultures in homes, schools, and businesses that stimulate innovation through widespread reading. Dr. Brassell's website is www.dannybrassell.com.

Brassell clearly has a deep passion for teaching. Busy teachers everywhere will appreciate this wonderful collection of the most effective research-based vocabulary strategies, guaranteed to engage students and improve comprehension. Brassell's humor and style shine through on every page. The book is loaded with practical ways to differentiate vocabulary instruction for all students, using rich hands-on activities, games, and Web resources. I love this book!--Lori Oczkus, MA, literacy coach and author, Orinda, CaliforniaThe vocabulary strategies and word play activities alone make this volume an excellent addition to any K-6 teacher's bookshelf. But the real strength of the book is that it provides ideas for differentiating instruction based on the strategies. Meeting the specific needs of students through differentiation is always a challenge; this book shows how differentiating word learning can be both manageable for the teacher and fun for students.--Thomas DeVere Wolsey, EdD, Richard W. Riley College of Education and Leadership, Walden UniversityDare to Differentiate jumps right into ideas and strategies that elementary teachers can start using immediately to embed vocabulary learning throughout the curriculum. The easy-to-use format includes a description of each strategy plus a classroom example that shows how it works. This book is a great addition to any educator's library.--Joanne Toft, MA, former K-6 teacher; Associate Director, Arts for Academic Achievement, Minneapolis Public SchoolsAre you looking for a way (or many ways) to make vocabulary instruction come alive for your students? Then Dare to Differentiate, Third Edition, is for you. Not only does Brassell present an array of engaging instructional strategies, but he also provides ways to make each strategy work for different students and classrooms. Differentiation makes the difference! I highly recommend this extraordinary volume.--Timothy Rasinski, PhD, Department of Teaching, Learning, and Curriculum Studies, Kent State University-

• Introduction Strategies 1. Analogies 2. Barrier Games *Word Play: Neologisms/Sniglets 3. Concept Ladders 4. Contextual Redefinition *Word Play: Rebuses 5. Exclusion Brainstorming 6. Hierarchical and Linear Arrays *Word Play: Eponyms 7. Idioms 8. Interactive Word Walls *Word Play: Hink Pinks, Hinky Pinkies, and Hinkity Pinkities 9. K-W–L Plus 10. List–Group–Label *Word Play: Tom Swiftlies 11. Morphemic Analysis 12. Personal Vocabulary Journals *Word Play: Dittograms 13. Possible Sentences 14. Read-Alouds *Word Play: Book Talk 15. Scavenger Hunts 16. Semantic Feature Analysis *Word Play: Pangrams 17. Semantic Mapping 18. Student VOC Strategy *Word Play: Oxymorons 19. Text Talk 20. Vocabulary Self-Collection Strategy *Word Play: Top Ten Lists 21. Vocab-o-grams 22. Vocabulary Cards (Example/Nonexample) *Word Play: Palindromes 23. Word Plays 24. Word Riddles 25. Word Sorts