Carol Ann Tomlinson Quotes

Accepting both the opportunity and the responsibility evokes a great deal of humility.

Differentiated Instruction is a teaching philosophy based on the premise that teachers should adapt instruction to student differences. Rather than marching students through the curriculum lockstep, teachers should modify their instruction to meet students’ varying readiness levels, learning preferences, and interests. Therefore, the teacher proactively plans a variety of ways to ‘get it’ and express learning.

It is not so important to have all the answers as to be hungry for them.

Plan to be better today, but don’t ever plan to be finished

Teaching is a very habit-bound endeavor. We’re unsettled by the unfamiliar. We’re creatures of habit too.

Readiness is a student’s entry point relative to a particular understanding or skill.

Teachers craft classrooms that are good matches for their teaching styles as well as for learner needs.

The best educators I have met never stop asking questions. Some of them have taught for forty years and continue to be energized by new possibilities.

When challenge and skills are in balance the activity is its own reward

Until a teacher learns to use elements like time, space, materials, groupings, and so forth flexibly, it’s incredibly difficult to teach students as they need to be taught.

[Students] are exposed to many things the majority of their teachers didn’t encounter until much later in their growing up years.

In the field of education, educators know that they leave a lasting impact on their students for better or for worse. Trust is established or diminished in the classroom and very good educators understand that they are fallible. Despite their best efforts, they will not always do the best for each student.