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Dr. Diane Heacox

Dr. Diane Heacox is an Associate Professor of Education at St. Catherine University in St. Paul, Minnesota. She is also consultant and professional development trainer to both public and private schools on a variety of topics related to teaching and learning. She is also the author of four books. Her first book for Free Spirit Publishers was “Up From Underachievement: How Teachers, Students and Parents Can Work Together”. “Differentiating Instruction in the Regular Classroom: How to Reach and Teach All Learners” was updated and released in 2012. “Making Differentiation a Habit” earned the 2010 Association of Education Publishers Distinguished Achievement Award. Her book co-authored with Richard Cash, “Differentiation for Gifted Learners: Going Beyond the Basics,” was released in fall of 2013 and in 2014 was awarded The Legacy Book® Award for outstanding Educators Book.

Dr. Heacox has taught at both elementary and secondary school levels and has served as a gifted education teacher and administrator, as well as an instructional specialist in public education. Her books have been translated into many languages. Her Differentiation Classroom Practices Inventory was used by the Ministry of Education in Portugal for conducting a national survey of classroom practices.

Dr. Heacox serves on the Board of Directors of the Minnesota Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development and the Minnesota Department of Education Gifted Education Advisory Board. She is the past chair for the Middle Level Network and the Education committee for NAGC and the facilitator of the Higher Education Division for ASCD.

Dr. Heacox was recognized by the Minnesota Educators of Gifted and Talented as the 2010 Friend of the Gifted for service to gifted education. She is also in the University of St. Thomas Educators Hall of Fame for contributions to the field of education.

Categories: Educator, Educator - Assessment and Grading, Educator - Co-Teaching, Educator - Common Core Standards, Educator - Differentiated Instruction, Educator - Formative Assessment, Educator - RTI / MTSS / PBIS

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Videos

Topics

Defining and Describing Formative Assessment Practices Embedded in the Common Core

Differentiating Instruction

Academic Underachievement

Gifted and Talented Education

Creativity

The Habit of Differentiation

The habit of differentiation becomes the way we do the work in today's academically diverse and increasingly challenging classrooms. The habit of differentiation results in students enthusiastically engaged in learning, experiencing increasing levels of success and gaining confidence in themselves as learners. We will explore the critical elements that distinguish authentic differentiation from indiscriminate teaching tips and tricks. In applying these elements, you can be confident that the work you do in differentiation is based on a solid foundation of research-based best practices in teaching and learning. Finally, we will examine the specific instructional strategies that exemplify the habit of differentiation.

Co-teaching: A Collaborative Approach to Meeting the Needs of All Learners

Co-teaching has emerged as a favored practice in inclusion classrooms. It holds the promise for better supporting the unique needs of all students from those who struggle in learning to those who are gifted and academically talented. This session will present seven co-teaching approaches for working together in the classroom. Practical suggestions for building trust, establishing individual and shared roles, establishing co-teaching norms as well as for effective and efficient use of co-planning time are provided.

Leadership Strategies for Instructional Coaching

21st Century Skills: Critical and Creative Thinking

Using Descriptive Feedback to Increase Student Motivation and Learning

Practical, Do-able Assessment Strategies: A Toolkit for Teachers

In order to more systematically respond to academic diversity, teachers need tools that can effectively identify student learning needs and progress. Pre-assessment and formative assessment strategies must not only be practical, do-able, and less time consuming but also be effective in guiding instructional planning and differentiation. This session offers a "toolkit" of practical assessment strategies to enhance the educator's ability to collect data on student learning needs and to plan for and respond to differences.

Up for Underachievement

Teachers recognize that not all students are engaged and productive. Some students perform exceedingly well in a single curriculum area but appear to be average or struggling in others. Some students establish a perplexing pattern of doing well or doing nothing. Some are reluctant, even resistant, learners refusing to play the school game. This session explores well documented research on underlying causes of low performance and creates distinctions between non-producers, selective producers and underachievers. Participants are guided through a process for diagnosing specific performance issues. Specific and targeted courses of action including counseling and instructional interventions are suggested.

RTI and Differentiation: Making the Connections

Providing Leadership For Differentiated Classrooms

How do we build school-wide understanding and support for differentiated instruction? How do we provide the training and leadership for teachers essential to their success in a differentiated classroom? Explore how most effective research based practices in education connect to the strategies for differentiating instruction and how it builds a strong case for differentiated classrooms. Discuss a solid rationale for differentiation that can be made with parents, teachers and administrators. Identify the degree to which your school or district reflects characteristics of differentiated instruction and consider next steps for your school site. Come also to share your successes and challenges in supporting and encouraging differentiated classrooms and the teachers who work in them.

Beyond the Basics: Authentic Differentiation for Gifted Learners

The hot topic in general education is differentiating curriculum and instruction to meet the needs of all students. General differentiation may not be the most effective way to address the needs of gifted/advanced learners. How do we adjust the basics of differentiation to be suitable for gifted/advanced learners? This session provides participants with a framework that supports the advanced pace, sophisticated complexity and greater depth required by the gifted/advanced learners. Practical, step-by-step design strategies are highlighted.

Critical Elements in a Differentiated Classroom: Tiered Assignments and Flexible Instructional Groups

Although there are multiple strategies that teachers utilize in differentiated classrooms, the most sophisticated, focused and foundational of all is the use of tiered assignments. Explore six ways to tier assignments based on specific learning needs of your students. Discover strategies to make tiered assignments "invisible" to your students. Extend your practices in managing a differentiated classroom through the use of flexible instructional grouping. Leave this session with a clear understanding that tiered assignments are not only critical but do-able in a differentiated classroom.

Engaging Resistent or Reluctant Learners

As teachers, we often struggle to reach students who actively or passively resist engagement in learning. This session identifies behaviors that distinguish students who are having motivational issues. We consider what behaviors are necessary for success in our classrooms. We will identify how to remove barriers to learning giving students more opportunities for autonomy. Instead of relying on rewards or punitive tactics to motivate reluctant and resistant students a step by step process and practical strategies will be provided.

Instructional Coaching for Imbedding DI Practice

Whether you are a teacher leader, a principal, or a professional development facilitator, we all want new strategies presented to teachers embedded into classroom practice. Coaching for success is a critical element in integrating new ideas. This session will provide specific coaching strategies that will increase the likelihood of classroom applications. A variety of tools for gathering data on classroom practices including self-assessment inventories and walkthrough protocols are provided. Using the data, specific plans for supporting the diverse needs of teachers are developed. We will also explore and practice the effective use of descriptive feedback in assisting teachers in determining what they are doing well, where they are now in the development of their professional skills as well as identifying next steps in their continual growth and development.

Formative Assessment Strategies: An Essential Element for Success in Common Core Classrooms

Without both pre-assessment and formative assessment, teachers would not know when and how to differentiate instruction for learners. However, teachers frequently feel overwhelmed with the need to design, facilitate and then analyze formative assessment data as well as find the time to do so! This session provides "good to go" strategies for formative assessment that will not only get you the data you need to make instructional decisions but also actively engage your students in non-threatening assessments. We will also sketch out where and how we might embed formative assessment into a curriculum unit's teaching routines to optimize your understanding of your students' learning progress.

Common Core Standards: Implications for Gifted Learners

Although Common Core State Standards (CCSS) may be considered to be more rigorous than some previous state standards, they still fall short in meeting the specific needs of gifted learners. What misconceptions related to CCSS and gifted students should be considered? This session examines the implications of the Common Core on curriculum content, instruction, and program delivery for gifted students. Specific strategies for using CCSS to guide acceleration and to increase depth and complexity of learning are offered. Explore how CCSS may assist us in reframing gifted services.

Thinking Through the Common Core

Distinguished as one of the essential skills for the 21st century, long neglected the skills of critical and creative thinking are also critical to success in the Common Core. However, it is time to go beyond skills into tactics that strengthen the core of critical and creative thinking. This session focuses on pedagogy that encourages students to experiment, to innovate, and to explore new avenues. Such pedagogy takes students deeper into complex tasks that support rather than trivialize the teaching of thinking skills. In addition, attention will be given to the role of collaboration, diversity, idea exchange and an ability to build on another's achievements in the process.

Making the Connections: Differentiating Instruction In A Common Core Classroom

What is important for students to know, understand and be able to do is increasingly being directed by state content standards and now at the national level by the Common Core State Standards. This session will explore the ways in which differentiated instruction can increase the likelihood of student success in a standards based classroom and how the strategies of differentiation can enable a teacher to reach and teach more learners. The habit of differentiation becomes the way we do the work in today's academically diverse and increasingly challenging classrooms. The habit of differentiation results in students enthusiastically engaged in learning, experiencing increasing levels of success and gaining confidence in themselves as learners. We will explore the critical elements that distinguish authentic differentiation from indiscriminate teaching tips and tricks. Finally, we will examine the specific and practical instructional strategies that exemplify the habit of differentiation

Books

Differentiating Instruction in the Regular Classroom: How to Reach and Teach All Learners, Grades 3-12

Differentiating Instruction in the Regular Classroom: How to Reach and Teach All Learners, Grades 3-12

Some children learn easily, while others struggle. How can teachers make sure that every child has opportunities to develop his or her talents? The answer is differentiation: changing the pace, level, or kind of instruction in response to learners' needs, styles, and/or interests. In this timely, practical guide, Diane Heacox presents a menu of strategies for any teacher faced with a spectrum of student needs and styles.

You can purchase this book here

Up from Underachievement: How Teachers, Students, and Parents Can Work Together to Promote Student Success

Up from Underachievement: How Teachers, Students, and Parents Can Work Together to Promote Student Success

Here's help for all underachievers, plus their frustrated parents and teachers! This step-by-step program, proven successful in schools, tells you exactly what to do to break the failure chain. And it works for students of all ages, with all kinds of school problems - from the good student whose grades suddenly start slipping, to the seemingly incorrigible underachiever with a history of poor school performance. Instead of blaming teachers, students, or parents for school failure, Up from Underachievement invites them to work together for school success. Teachers and parents learn specific ways to support achievement and create a positive learning environment. Students learn specific ways to manage their work, form good study habits, set reachable goals, and build self-esteem. Together, they develop an Action Plan that spells out everyone's responsibilities. And because students are involved from the beginning, they feel personally motivated to succeed.

You can purchase this book here

Differentiation for Gifted Learners: Going Beyond the Basics

Differentiation for Gifted Learners: Going Beyond the Basics

Differentiation for gifted students significantly differs from the ways in which educators differentiate curriculum and instruction for other students. Within a group of advanced learners, the variety of abilities, talents, interests, and learning styles can be formidable. Differentiating for them must go beyond adjusting content levels, task complexity, or product choice. For the first time, this book connects the unique learning differences among gifted students to the specific teaching methods used to tailor their educational experiences. Topics discussed include real-world problem solving, abstract thinking, interdisciplinary concepts, authentic products, learning autonomy, accountability, grouping practices, affective curriculum, 21st-century skills, Advanced Placement and Honors classes, IB programs, underserved populations, and twice-exceptional learners.

You can purchase this book here

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