About Us

Oct 12, 2010 by

Differentiated Instruction is a website and blog to help teachers learn how to use differentiated instruction in the Classroom.

Whitney Hoffman and Jenifer Fox have written The Differentiated Instruction Book of Lists for Jossey-Bass (to be published August, 2011), to help teachers make differentiation easier to accomplish.  This website is intended to serve as an extension of that book, to help teachers find resources, research, ideas, tools and support to help support differentiation.

We welcome your questions, comments and more.  You can contact us through the form on this website, or by simply dropping us an email at ldpodcast@gmail.com.

About The Authors

Whitney Hoffman

Whitney Hoffman is the director of Hoffman Digital Media (http://www.whitneyhoffman.com), which produces digital content for the Web, and has created and produced the LD Podcast (http://www.ldpodcast.com) for five years. The LD Podcast features interviews with educational experts including Dr. Robert Brooks, Dr. Russell Barkley, Dr. Tom Brown of Yale University, Dale Brown from LD Online, Jenifer Fox, Rich Weinfeld, Peter Wright, Dr. Stuart Brown from the National Institute of Play, Rick LaVoie, and various other professionals, educators, physicians, and parents. Over 100 podcasts have been produced, downloaded over 100,000 times. Hoffman also produces OB-GYN To Go, a podcast for medical resident education. Her work on OB-GYN To Go has resulted in publication of an academic paper showing the improvement in learning and retention in resident physicians who use podcasts as part of their education process. Hoffman is the mother of two children with learning disabilities, both of whom have attended both private and public schools. She has served as the chair of Community Education at the Centreville School in Wilmington, Delaware. With degrees in developmental biology from the University of Pennsylvania and a law degree from the Dickinson School of Law, Hoffman delivers considerable knowledge and experience when it comes to making the complex world of special education understandable for parents and educators in online digital platforms. Hoffman speaks regularly before audiences on the use of social media platforms to create communities of learning in both the education and business worlds. She also holds a position on the Kennett Consolidated School District Technology Committee, advising about the integration of technology in the classroom, and moderates the Personalized Learning Group on Edutopia, with Jenifer Fox. Ms. Hoffman is also the director of operations for the Podcamp Foundation, which produces digital media community-based unconferences.

Jenifer Fox

Jenifer Fox, author of Your Child’s Strengths (Viking 2008; Penguin, 2009) and Stories of Excellence: Case Studies of Exemplary Teaching and Learning with Technology (NAIS, 2008), is widely considered the international leader in developing strengths-based curriculum for youth. Ms. Fox is a school consultant, public speaker, and creator of Strong Planet, a media-driven interactive curriculum to help all kinds of learners discover their strengths. Ms. Fox served for twenty-five years as a public and independent school administrator and teacher. Her experience includes creating strengths-based teacher evaluation programs, teacher and parent partnerships, and sustainable professional growth programs. Jenifer is the head of school at the Clariden School, a progressive K–12 school in Southlake, Texas that focuses on Montessori, strengths, and innovation and is truly a laboratory for differentiated instruction and personalized learning. Ms. Fox also moderates the Personalized Learning Group on Edutopia, is an expert blogger for the National Journal, and writes for the Huffington Post. Fox holds an undergraduate degree from the School of Education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, a master of arts (MA) in Writing from Middlebury College’s Breadloaf School of English, and a master of education (M.Ed) from Harvard University. Fox is a certified public school teacher and principal who has been widely published and made numerous expert appearances on television, radio, and in print. She is often invited to speak before audiences of parents and educators throughout the world. Her growing platform crosses between public and independent schools, and she is the founder of the nonprofit organization, The Strengths Movement in Schools (http://www.strengthsmovement.com).