Teaching isn't merely transmitting knowledge to students; it's also about teaching students to approach learning in engaging and unexpected ways. In Sparking Student Creativity: Practical Ways to Promote Innovative Thinking and Problem Solving, author and researcher Patti Drapeau explores and explains research related to creativity and its relevance in today's standards-based, critical thinking-focused classroom. The book vividly and comprehensively shows: How creative lessons can meet and extend the expectations of curriculum standards such as the Common Core State Standards. How to incorporate creativity and assessment into daily classroom practices. How to develop a ""Creativity Road Map"" to guide instruction. How to design lessons that prompt and support creative thinking. In addition, the book includes 40 ""grab and go"" ideas that infuse lesson plans with a spirit of exploration. No matter what grade levels or content areas you teach, Sparking Student Creativity will help you to produce creative lesson components that directly address critical content, target specific standards, and require thoughtful products from students as they grow into independent learners and become successful students and adults.

How does a teacher meet the needs of all learners amid the realities of day-to-day teaching? Patti Drapeau shows us how in this practical book. She offers several strategies, including pacing instruction, varying the depth of content, widening or narrowing the breadth of topics, and altering the complexity of questions. She also shows teachers how to make them work, through tiered task cards, differentiated learning centers, and more. For use with Grades 3-6.

'Drapeau is a teacher's teacher. This book is guaranteed to elevate student thinking while addressing the needs of individual learners at all skill levels. It's all here and ready to go, along with sound research for support' - Pamela Lester, Enrichment Teacher Clinton Township School District, Lebanon, NJ 'Graphic organizers, differentiated instruction, and creative and critical thinking-three topics on the frontline of teaching today, all together in one well-crafted text. This exciting book will not stay on the bookshelf; teachers will try the sample lessons and use and modify the graphic organizers to improve their practice and the achievement of their students' - Karen Shible, Reading Specialist Meachem Elementary School, Syracuse, NY Use graphic organizers to challenge students, make learning exciting, and raise academic achievement! Graphic organizers have proven to be successful tools for helping students more readily understand and retain information. This research-based resource shows how graphic organizers can improve teaching practices, help differentiate instruction in the classroom, and raise learning outcomes for all students, including English language learners and students with learning disabilities. The author presents graphic organizers for nine types of thinking processes based on Bloom's taxonomy and offers examples of how to apply the graphic organizers in different subject areas and grade levels. This hands-on guide demonstrates how teachers can: - promote the critical thinking processes of assuming, inferring, analyzing, prioritizing, and judging - encourage the creative thinking processes of brainstorming, connecting, creating, and elaborating - modify graphic organizers or create their own to meet individual learning needs. Differentiating With Graphic Organizers addresses ways to promote and build students' creative reasoning, communication, and problem-solving skills and make the learning process a success.

'Drapeau is a teacher's teacher. This book is guaranteed to elevate student thinking while addressing the needs of individual learners at all skill levels. It's all here and ready to go, along with sound research for support' - Pamela Lester, Enrichment Teacher Clinton Township School District, Lebanon, NJ 'Graphic organizers, differentiated instruction, and creative and critical thinking-three topics on the frontline of teaching today, all together in one well-crafted text. This exciting book will not stay on the bookshelf; teachers will try the sample lessons and use and modify the graphic organizers to improve their practice and the achievement of their students' - Karen Shible, Reading Specialist Meachem Elementary School, Syracuse, NY Use graphic organizers to challenge students, make learning exciting, and raise academic achievement! Graphic organizers have proven to be successful tools for helping students more readily understand and retain information. This research-based resource shows how graphic organizers can improve teaching practices, help differentiate instruction in the classroom, and raise learning outcomes for all students, including English language learners and students with learning disabilities. The author presents graphic organizers for nine types of thinking processes based on Bloom's taxonomy and offers examples of how to apply the graphic organizers in different subject areas and grade levels. This hands-on guide demonstrates how teachers can: - promote the critical thinking processes of assuming, inferring, analyzing, prioritizing, and judging - encourage the creative thinking processes of brainstorming, connecting, creating, and elaborating - modify graphic organizers or create their own to meet individual learning needs. Differentiating With Graphic Organizers addresses ways to promote and build students' creative reasoning, communication, and problem-solving skills and make the learning process a success.