Let’s make no mistake: differentiation requires extra time and effort. Individualizing instruction and making it appropriate to diverse learners requires additional planning, additional resources, and more attention to detail. I see no way around that. However, planning for differentiation itself and adding layers of rigor to instruction should not be an intimidating task that requires huge amounts of time. What I’m going to share in this blog will allow teachers to differentiate instruction...

I suggest that you focus on the parents for a successful open house. You should instruct the teachers about the process and have them ready. We always had pizza and soda in the media center prior to the open house. We kept the teachers on campus, so they wouldn’t be late or “forget” about the program. Didn’t cost much and created good will.

I feel that a good open house should include an informal information session (15 minutes maximum) where you can go over the evenings expectations...

Here are several suggestions to have a more effective meeting.

With the use of technology, staff meetings should not be the old “stand and deliver type” but a sharing of new knowledge/ideas, teaching strategies, learning communities, etc. The usefulness of staff meetings should not be determined by a meetings time or format as much as the purpose of and need for the meeting.

Administrators must plan staff meetings carefully. Informational meetings can be waived in favor of e-...