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DIY Literacy: Teaching Tools for Differentiation, Rigor, and Independence
"We have never seen teachers work harder than we do now. These tools inspire kids to work as hard as we are."
-Kate Roberts and Maggie Beattie Roberts
What's DIY Literacy? It's making your own visual teaching tools instead of buying them. It's using your teaching smarts to get the most from those tools. And it's helping kids think strategically so they can be DIY learners.
"Teaching tools create an impact on students' learning," write Kate Roberts and Maggie Beattie Roberts. "They help students hold onto our teaching and become changed by the work in the classroom." Of course, you and your students need the right tools for the job, so first Kate and Maggie share four simple, visual tools that you can make. Then they show how to maximize your instructional know-how with suggestions for using the tools to:
make your reading and writing strategies stick motivate students to reach for their next learning goal differentiate instruction simply and quickly. Kate and Maggie are like a friendly, handy neighbor. They offer experience-honed advice for using the four tools for assessment, small-group instruction, conferring, setting learning goals, and, most important, helping students learn to apply strategies and make progress without prompting from you. In other words, to do it themselves.
"It is our greatest hope," write Kate and Maggie, "that the tools we offer here will help your students to work hard, to hold onto what they know, and to see themselves in the curriculum you teach." Try DIY Literacy and help your readers and writers take learning into their own hands.
-Kate Roberts and Maggie Beattie Roberts
What's DIY Literacy? It's making your own visual teaching tools instead of buying them. It's using your teaching smarts to get the most from those tools. And it's helping kids think strategically so they can be DIY learners.
"Teaching tools create an impact on students' learning," write Kate Roberts and Maggie Beattie Roberts. "They help students hold onto our teaching and become changed by the work in the classroom." Of course, you and your students need the right tools for the job, so first Kate and Maggie share four simple, visual tools that you can make. Then they show how to maximize your instructional know-how with suggestions for using the tools to:
make your reading and writing strategies stick motivate students to reach for their next learning goal differentiate instruction simply and quickly. Kate and Maggie are like a friendly, handy neighbor. They offer experience-honed advice for using the four tools for assessment, small-group instruction, conferring, setting learning goals, and, most important, helping students learn to apply strategies and make progress without prompting from you. In other words, to do it themselves.
"It is our greatest hope," write Kate and Maggie, "that the tools we offer here will help your students to work hard, to hold onto what they know, and to see themselves in the curriculum you teach." Try DIY Literacy and help your readers and writers take learning into their own hands.
116 pages, Paperback
Published April 8, 2016
19 people are currently reading
367 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 50 reviews
July 25, 2016
Good professional books fill you with new ideas. Great ones show you how to lift your current teaching to a higher level. DIY Literacy is a great professional book!
July 19, 2016
It's no exaggeration to say this is one of the most powerful, foundational professional reads in my recent memory. Kate and Maggie are thoughtful, experienced, and honest, and this resource has huge potential to lift the level of teaching and learning in literacy workshop. (Maybe workshop, period) this one makes me miss having a classroom of my own! Must read. For real.
August 14, 2016
4.5 stars. I loved this practical guide to creating tools that work for students. Some favorite thoughts:
-we shouldn't repeat the refrain of "you should know this by now." We ask a lot of our students throughout the day, so if they don't remember what we teach, we need to examine our teaching and make changes.
-micro progressions help students see the path ahead and give practical examples of how to lift the level of their work.
-involve students in the creation of teaching tools. If a student is an expert at a skill, use his/her work as a part of a demonstration page or even ask him/her to make the page for the notebook. As much as possible, organically create the charts and tools you use in the classroom
-move the tools around! Such a no-brainer for some, but we stop seeing certain things after awhile if they aren't moved/refreshed. If students aren't using them, ask them why and plan how to change that. Maybe devote a certain area of the classroom to a certain genre of charts.
-design matters! Be intentional with color and space. I personally will be picking a color theme this year and making my titles the same color for continuity.
-listen to your students. If they're bored or checked out, is the work too hard or easy? Ask! Then make a tool that helps.
Great book. I would recommend for all literacy teachers. I hope more people read and start to share their notebooks and charts!
-we shouldn't repeat the refrain of "you should know this by now." We ask a lot of our students throughout the day, so if they don't remember what we teach, we need to examine our teaching and make changes.
-micro progressions help students see the path ahead and give practical examples of how to lift the level of their work.
-involve students in the creation of teaching tools. If a student is an expert at a skill, use his/her work as a part of a demonstration page or even ask him/her to make the page for the notebook. As much as possible, organically create the charts and tools you use in the classroom
-move the tools around! Such a no-brainer for some, but we stop seeing certain things after awhile if they aren't moved/refreshed. If students aren't using them, ask them why and plan how to change that. Maybe devote a certain area of the classroom to a certain genre of charts.
-design matters! Be intentional with color and space. I personally will be picking a color theme this year and making my titles the same color for continuity.
-listen to your students. If they're bored or checked out, is the work too hard or easy? Ask! Then make a tool that helps.
Great book. I would recommend for all literacy teachers. I hope more people read and start to share their notebooks and charts!
July 16, 2016
I'm so happy I read this book because I didn't understand prior the idea of the tools. As each one is presented in a context of a classroom situation I realized the importance of thinking about which tool and as important the power of differentiation within the toolbox. I'm also excited to be discussing this as our Grade 3-5 professional text this school year.
July 18, 2016
This book has many great ideas for helping students become self-directed learners. So many differentiation ideas and practical examples!
July 28, 2016
So many take aways from this book!
Read
December 10, 2018Thoughtful, motivating resource that empowers teachers to get back into literacy full force! I like how the authors used relavant student centered ideas to push my teaching to the next level!
May 17, 2016
This book is helpful for balanced literacy teachers who have a firm grasp on the structures of balanced literacy and the concept of strategy-based instruction. If these ideas are unfamiliar to you, I would imagine that much of the content of this text will be unhelpful.
Maggie & Kate Roberts share four teaching tools--demonstration notebooks, bookmarks, charts, and microprogressions--that, if used well, can assist students in becoming truly independent.
Lots of images and clear, concise explanations make this book an easy and enjoyable read!
Maggie & Kate Roberts share four teaching tools--demonstration notebooks, bookmarks, charts, and microprogressions--that, if used well, can assist students in becoming truly independent.
Lots of images and clear, concise explanations make this book an easy and enjoyable read!
July 22, 2016
Easy to read, succinct, and insightful. I like how Kate and Maggie stick to the four basic teaching tools and then approach them repeatedly in different contexts. The companion videos are awesome and will make you love these ladies even more!
August 4, 2017
Many good tips for differentiation in both reading and writing--especially with creation of micro-progression charts, how to make them and how to use them effectively in a variety of situations in the classroom.
July 24, 2016
Excellent professional book!
December 22, 2016
Such practical and effective strategies for creating literacy tools for mini-lessons, conferring, or small group instruction. LOVE IT!
June 15, 2017
An empowering book with many practical suggestions that I plan to implement when I make my conferring toolkit. Great resource!
July 26, 2017
I liked that this offered mostly non-tech driven strategies for my classroom.
July 28, 2018
It took me four hundred years to read this, which is not because the book is bad. It’s because it’s summer and I had better things to do! :)
Alas it is a great book, even for a veteran teacher like myself. I’m pumped to use the tools they share with my students this year. Written in a friendly and easy to follow manner they walk you through each of their DIY tools in multiple ways. I think my favorite part was the focus on rigor and their acknowledgement that it does look different for every child.
Definitely one to put on your wish lists. Full of ideas to really push your thinking forward.
Alas it is a great book, even for a veteran teacher like myself. I’m pumped to use the tools they share with my students this year. Written in a friendly and easy to follow manner they walk you through each of their DIY tools in multiple ways. I think my favorite part was the focus on rigor and their acknowledgement that it does look different for every child.
Definitely one to put on your wish lists. Full of ideas to really push your thinking forward.
February 4, 2018
DIY Literacy does a very good job of crystallizing what every literacy educator should know about the tools at their disposal. I appreciated the simple and clear ways it presented the different tools, how to use the tools, and how to make them. It’s quite inspiring and made it very difficult for me not to run to the nearest shop to purchase whatever I may need to make these tools. Huge thanks to Kate Roberts and Maggie Beattie Roberts for making tangible what is often left abstract.
March 8, 2018
I gave this book three stars because it felt more like a handbook for new teachers. It would be invaluable the first few years of teaching, but in my 16th year I feel like I have a lot of these ideas covered. The best thing in the book is the demonstration notebook idea. It's one I can easily share with teachers!
July 9, 2018
Great ideas for supporting students. This book moves beyond the idea of an interactive notebook and anchor chart as a reminder by asking the reader to consider how students will use tools for learning. It's good stuff.
June 17, 2019
Lots of practical ideas that are absolutely achievable. I finished this while on a flight from Tampa to Chicago because I skipped all of the wordy parts that I just didn’t need! Finished up feeling excited to continue my work with microprogressions, and build a demonstration notebook.
July 8, 2021
One of the best PD books I have read! This book provides more than theory. It gives educators concrete methods on how to create literacy teaching tools.
The only reason I gave it a 4 rather than 5 stars is that it was rather repetitive. I did especially enjoy chapters 2 & 6.
The only reason I gave it a 4 rather than 5 stars is that it was rather repetitive. I did especially enjoy chapters 2 & 6.
February 4, 2026
Very helpful toolbox with practical "tools'/strategies to work with students. Some of the strategies are not new, but suggestions about how to use them are. I particularly love the demo notebook idea and have immediately begun to develop this.
June 18, 2017
Excellent ideas! Good advice and ways to make these things a reality. Excited to try these in the fall.
June 23, 2017
Great book for learning how to use common teaching tools most effectively in your classroom. Great tips for instant implementation. :D
April 30, 2018
A nice way to stitch together so many of my favorite professional texts - Fletcher, Lehman, Harvey, Beers
June 1, 2018
One of my favorites! A very practical read to get you started on your own Literacy Notebooks.
August 10, 2018
MUST read for any ELA teacher. Great strategies to use, especially with workshop model.
December 15, 2018
The demonstration notebooks and micro-progressions are great. My kids told me the demo notebook sheets were so helpful for reviewing for an upcoming test.
January 4, 2019
Not quite what I had expected.
July 20, 2020
Some good thoughts, but not what I anticipated from the title. The strategies discussed in here could apply to all content areas which is something we need more of.
December 29, 2022
This is a super resource for implementing some simple tools during reading/worrying workshop in the ELA classroom.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 50 reviews