The End of One Journey. The Beginning of Another.

Friday was my last day of field work in a 6th grade class.  I was sad to go!  Over the course of those three weeks, I grew to love those students and enjoyed the opportunity to take the role as teacher for the last two days I was there.

A handful of things I learned (selected from a great list) from this journey:

1. There will be unknown circumstances in your students lives that affect them emotionally, which hinders their ability to work.  Love those students, love all your students, because you never know how much of that they need.  Care about them, because if you don't, you'll never be able to help them - you'll never be able to differentiate what you teach to help them be successful.
2. You can't do everything.  Face that fact now.  You'll have times where all you have to give and offer is never enough.  Don't be discouraged.  Tomorrow is a new day.
3. Give students the opportunity to learn from one another!  A great way to differentiate is by creating opportunities for students to take responsibility of their learning by sharing what they know with others AND being willing to ask questions when they aren't understanding a concept.
4. State your expectations clearly to students.  Write them on the board.  They will respond better and you won't waste time going over it again and again with each student.
5. Give students responsibilities: they track their own progress of test scores throughout the year, set goals (behavioral, academic, and others) each term and reflect on reaching those goals each week, give them class jobs (the class can't run without them performing their job to the best of their ability).  Help them understand that their learning and the learning of others depends on them.

Classroom community is the key to successful students. If students feel at home in your classroom, with an atmosphere of trust and respect for all the members in it, then and only then can learning take place. Then and only then can the protective walls we, as human beings, put up be taken down so that we are able to see the true individual and learn how best to teach that individual. I believe building classroom community is the heart of responsive teaching.

Experiences from Field: Day 1

Day 1: March 17, 2014
My first day in the classroom and I decided I was ready to teach my first lesson.  Out of my 32 students, I knew two students' names.  I hadn't seen my cooperating teacher teach too much, but thought "why not? It won't be too hard."
I was teaching my 6th grade students about how to read and organize information from a time sequence text structure to prepare them for the written portion of the SAGE (Student Assessment of Growth and Excellence).  I had a specific lesson format to follow.  Armed with my lesson plan and supporting materials, I took a deep breath and began.
I thought I was familiar enough with my lesson to not need much support from my written outline, but realized afterwards I missed some steps and stumbled through. I received much needed constructive feedback from my cooperating teacher.  He advised me to pass out a blank timeline for students to complete from the beginning, instead of passing it out after we had four events on the timeline and having them catch up.  He also recommended that I give direct instruction that they are to stay together as a class to prevent students from reading ahead.

All in all, I thought it wasn't too bad of a lesson.  The students seemed to catch on quickly and most had at least eight events to put on their timelines.  We had good discussions and they were able to give support for why they chose the events.

The hallmarks of differentiation that I thought I was utilizing (remember what those hallmarks are? If not, go back and check out A Brief Visit to Hallmarks):

• Hallmark 2: Absolute clarity about what I wanted the students to know, understand, and do
• I told the students at the beginning of the lesson that learning about this time sequence text structure would help them find and organize information to use when they practiced writing an essay like one they would be writing for the SAGE
• Hallmark 3: Shared responsiblity. . . making it work for everyone
• As I was walking around during independent practice, I noticed some students had written down a handful of additional events on their timeline and others hadn't.  I created an open discussion that allowed the students who had written down additional events to share them with those who didn't have new events written down.  I encouraged the students justify why their event was significant and asked for others feedback.  I think this helped all students learn more, since they were learning from each other and not just from what I was teaching

I'm not discouraged to realize I only utilized two of the nine hallmarks of differentiation.  I know I'm just starting out and that as I continue to learn and grow as an educator, I will figure out how to better fit those hallmarks in.

The Simple, Hard Truth About Teaching

"It's really all quite simple:

• Learning is hard work
• People learn better when they feel valued and supported
• To value and support learners, we must know them"

"It's really quite simple:

• Teaching is about building sound lives through the medium of the most worthwhile knowledge, understanding, and skill"
• "Effective teaching is responsive teaching.  It begins with creating ties to each child" (Tomlinson, 2003, p. 90)

We really want to care

BUT

It's hard to care deeply about the kid whose questions make us feel dumb; the child whose temper destroys the tone of the classroom in an instant; the child whose demeanor seems threatening; the one who stares with blank eyes; the one who literally says "I hate you".

WHY can it be so hard to care?

• Because we don't know how to see through someone else's eyes or speak another persons' language
• Because there are too many students to connect with
• Because the people at home need us too and there's never enough of us to go around

WHY can it be so hard to form ties with students, teach responsively, and become exemplary?

• Because ofttimes many of us have never been taught that way.
• Because political and societal messages seem to counter all we know and think good teaching should be and we might feel like we'll be punished if we do what good teaching - responsive teaching - is.

WHY can it be so hard to teach well?

• Because teaching well can be hard to do when you have 30+ students studying your every move, when you're seeking insight into topics that are foreign to you, when you're trying to shape the lives of students who are taken from us just when "we can pretend to know them"
• Because "through trial and error [we] seek to develop the managerial skills beyond those necessary to run a large corporation" (I laughed out loud at that! Did you?)

Some encouraging words of understanding:
"Of course it's hard to teach.  It's likely impossible to always teach well, to teach responsively, to differentiate instruction to the benefit of each learner in our charge. . .there is no formula for excellent teaching - for responsive teaching" (Tomlinson, 2003, p. 91).

Tomlinson's guarantee:
"The more promising for students our decision is, the more complex it will be to live out. The more fully professional we want to become, the greater the risks we take. The more artful we want our work to be, the clumsier we will look along the way. . . The more willing we are to take the risks, the better the lives of our students are likely to become and the grater the fulfillment we are likely to feel at the end of the day" (p. 91).

Here's the key: 

Your challenges, if you choose to accept them:

1. Cultivate passion for what you do!

2. Remove your protective armor and allow your students to shape you; Reflect on and learn from what you see!

"How do we begin [our journey] when there is no paved road for us to travel?" (p. 93)

Take a step, make your own path, change your course if you need to! We learn by simply doing and making route changes when we find ourselves at a dead end.

Reference

Tomlinson, C. (2003). Fulfilling the promise of the differentiated classroom: Strategies and tools for responsive teaching. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

A Brief Review

Do you remember what responsive teaching encompasses? Here's a brief reminder (or you can re-read my first blog post):

We must always be aware and reflective of who, what, where, and how we teach in order to be effective teachers.  The following list shows us what effective teachers do.  Look for all of the factors of responsive teaching.

That's quite the extensive list, but it really doesn't seem that difficult, does it?  Think about what you are currently doing in your classroom that is in line with this list.  I'm sure you're doing many of them!  Now, think about ONE thing from the list that you could be doing and my challenge for you is to implement that in your classroom this month.

Reference
Tomlinson, C. (2003). Fulfilling the promise of the differentiated classroom: Strategies and tools for responsive teaching. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Curriculum & Instruction in the Face of Student Diversity

Alright, I completely covered the five pieces of the Curriculum & Instruction cog, but this last part of the chapter was too good to allow it to slip past unnoticed!

Which students help create such wonderful diversity in our classrooms?
Tomlinson's text tells us that these are English language learners, students from different cultures, advanced learners, students with learning disabilities, students from low-income homes, students who have given up on school (gasp! this breaks my heart!), and students who constitute "the norm" (p. 66).

The two principles that lie at the center of the role of curriculum & instruction creating ties with students.

Both principles are difficult to achieve.  The second one is more difficult than the first.

"The simple truth is that we cannot affirm the learner, cannot afford the learner purpose, power, challenge, and contribution, unless we work to know the child. We cannot respond effectively to individual learners only with invitation, investment, persistence, opportunity, and reflection that are focused on the whole class. The potentially powerful vehicles of curriculum and instruction through which we connect with and guide young people are rendered largely impotent if we see them as one-size-fits-all solutions" (p. 67).

We must get to know our students and use the tools available to help each student grow, both academically and personally.

Reference
Tomlinson, C. (2003). Fulfilling the promise of the differentiated classroom: Strategies and tools for responsive teaching. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Curriculum & Instruction That Are Scaffolded

"Great teachers consistently raise the ceiling of performance for each learner. At the same time, they raise the support system for each student" (Tomlinson, 2003, p. 64).

High quality teaching = placing work just out of reach for each learner + helping each student reach to succeed

To scaffold growth, we (teachers) follow a logic of thought:

1. We know exactly where each student needs to be at the end of a lesson, unit, or year to continue to grow (developing expert-like knowledge, understanding, and skill AND personally).
2. We figure out where each student is at the beginning, in relation to the goal.
3. We take action to ensure each student grows as much as possible in relation to the learning goals and personal development related to those goals.

Curriculum & Instruction Techniques:

• Guide teacher in teaching diverse learners successfully;
• Establish clear criteria for classroom operation that supports students' success;
• Include various modes of teaching to reach different learners;
• Utilize teacher modeling, organizers, and other instructional strategies to reach all learners;
• Use individual, small group, and whole group instruction;
• Include a variety of materials to support each learners' growth;
• Allow flexible use of time in response to the rate of learning the material;
• Build in peer-support mechanisms;
• Provide various pathways to learning and expressing learning;
• Specify quality work criteria and coach students in achieving the criteria;
• Involve learners in establishing their own goals, criteria for their work, and assessing their progress toward the criteria.

Curriculum & instruction that are important, focused, engaging, demanding, and scaffolded give students lofty things to do, establish an environment crafted on relationships and procedures that maximize the likelihood of success, tap into what matters to the learner, and build bridges between today's realities and the vision of tomorrow's success (p. 66).

Reference
Tomlinson, C. (2003). Fulfilling the promise of the differentiated classroom: Strategies and tools for responsive teaching. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Curriculum & Instruction That Are Demanding

"We feel better about ourselves when we work hard" (Tomlinson, 2003, p. 63).

There are two important features to curriculum and instruction that are demanding:

1. their design to teach each student what is worthy and essential in the subject.
2. Ensuring that every student develops the habits of mind and attitudes (AKA metaskills) necessary for success in school and in life.

Let's take a closer look at each feature.

1. Their design to teach each student what is worthy and essential in the subject.

• Demanding means curriculum & instruction plans engage every learner in exploring, understanding, and mastering the facts, concepts, principles, and skills and expert in the content would value.
• Teachers do not exclude any students from complex thinking.

• We should be thinking of Bloom's Taxonomy as we plan our lessons to ensure our students are given the opportunity to work at higher levels. On the left side, beginning with remember, are lower-level tasks.  These gradually increase, with higher-level tasks on the right.  I think of these as indicator words. Example: it's easy to describe a task, but it's harder to invent one.

Only when we provide consistent opportunity for each student to sharpen his abilities as a thinker will each student develop into a fully thoughtful adult. For every student, that means persistent, meaningful, guided work that draws on the skills of complex thinking as well as the skills of thinking about thinking.

2. Ensuring  that every student develops the habits of mind and attitudes (AKA metaskills) necessary for success in school and in life.

The Metaskills Chocolate Bar

(don't ask me how...it just happened...)

• The first piece (working hard) means there must be a plan for success that involves hard work.
  *Note: "there is no need to be successful in all things all the time" (p. 64). Doesn't that make you feel better? I know I feel like I always have to get things perfect, but I really don't! And neither do our students!
• We must create for each student a pattern of hard work and a pattern of success.
  "When students believe they are capable of success with assigned tasks, they are more likely to persist. When they are convinced that effort will not result in success, they are more likely to give up on the task" (p. 64) to protect themselves from humiliation.

The conundrum:

(meaning: confusing and difficult problem)

How do we balance hard work and success?

By building curriculum and instruction around essential frameworks of the discipline for all students AND plan to scaffold success for all students from where they are at (their zone of proximal development).

Curriculum & instruction techniques that are demanding include:

1. Guiding students in working and thinking like experts.
2. Placing the level of difficulty of work just out of reach of the learner.
3. Making student growth nonnegotiable.
4. Establishing high standards for work AND behavior.
5. Eliminating wasted time.

Reference

Tomlinson, C. (2003). Fulfilling the promise of the differentiated classroom: Strategies and tools for responsive teaching. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Image Reference
green leaves in Bloom's Taxonomy image modified from image from www.amazingclassroom.com