Available on Flash Drive or DVD

Differentiated Visual Tools (DVTs) is an approach to Content Enhancement that focuses on use of discipline-specific graphic organizers to enhance content and language literacy instruction. Each DVT is individually designed for teaching a specific content and/or language literacy standard in a manner that maximizes learning while reducing the cognitive load for teachers and students.

Development of each DVT involves analyzing a given standard to determine its critical “essential understandings” as well as analyzing key thinking / learning processes associated with the standard. DVTs employ both visual elements and semantic prompts designed to make thinking concrete for students while they are learning and mastering the skills and/or content associated with a specific learning standard. DVTs work hand in hand with other Content Enhancement devices.

Because the ‘heavy lifting’ required for determining how to best organize complex information in a manner that enables students to rapidly understand, each DVT was developed in such a way that the time, energy, and expertise needed to plan lessons that address complex information have been greatly reduced.