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

Curriculum & Instruction That Are Engaging

Much of the fine art of teaching comes in figuring out how to deliver the curricular fundamentals in ways that are irresistible to young minds (Tomlinson, 2003, p. 62).

Irresistible is a fabulous word!  When I hear that word I think of being engrossed in a book or eating dark chocolate or snuggled up in a blanket with hot chocolate on a cold winter night.  Irresistible means you just can't get enough!  This is what we as teachers dream of for every single lesson we teach!  We want students to find learning irresistible!  The big question is. . . HOW?

How do we get our students engaged in learning?
When a teacher sees what is really powerful (or essential) in a topic, adds his or her particular passions and talents, and creates an environment of learning where there's enough of everything (materials, avenues, inquiries) to invite EACH student to use their individual abilities and interests in exploration of intriguing ideas, engagement occurs!

"Every lesson plan should be, at its heart, a motivational plan" (p. 62).

Engagement occurs when students are motivated.

All of the items in the above picture motivate students.  Try one (or many) in your classroom to motivate and engage your students!

When students are engaged in the curriculum and instruction, they come to understand that:

• I will most often find the work intriguing and meaningful;
• I see myself myself and my world in this work;
• others have value;
• I am curious about the work and become absorbed in it.

Have you noticed how the previous two posts (Curriculum that is Important and Curriculum that is Focused) build on each other? Here's a quote that brings it into focus:

"When curriculum and instruction are important, focused, and engaging, teacher and students are poised on the brink of great possibility" (p. 63).

Reference

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

Curriculum & Instruction That Are Focused

"In a focused curriculum, teachers specify precisely what students should know, understand, and be able to do as the result of a unit of study. This becomes the rudder to steer each segment of teaching and learning that follows" (Tomlinson, 2003, p. 61).

Once we have uncovered what is essential in our topic of study,  we need to make sure that every step along the pathway of learning is "designed to guide our students toward a high level of competence with the knowledge, understanding, and skill we have deemed critical" (p. 60).

How do we do this?

By pre-assessing students to determine their individual and group strengths and weaknesses, understandings and misconceptions.

Then, when we know where our students are at, we can begin to form our lessons.  Our lessons include "something we ask students to do, using a portion of key information, to come to understand an essential idea" (p. 61).  This may involve students practicing a skill, reteaching ideas, or extending ideas.  With no exception, each step in our lessons must be targeted on what is essential for students to learn.
You can develop a focused curriculum by:
using backward design - starting with the end product or assessment in mind then mapping out how to guide students to a successful end

             OR

front-loading - specifying the essentials up front and moving forward. 

Whichever you decide, a focused curriculum helps students understand that

1. what we do is always aligned with stated, essential learning goals;
2. whatever we do helps us get where we need to go;
3. everyone (including teacher and students) knows why we do what we do;
4. everyone knows how the parts contribute to a bigger picture of knowledge, understanding, and skill.

"Implicit in focused curriculum and instruction is the message that the student's time is too valuable to waste and that the enterprise of heling each student become all [s]he can become requires our est efforts at using all the learning opportunities available to us on what really counts" (p. 62).

Reference

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

Curriculum that is Important

Teachers shape lives. . .by equipping students with the intellectual wherewithal necessary to make their way in a world that increasingly demands academic preparation for full societal participation (Tomlinson, 2003, p. 56).

Chapter 5 of Tomlinson's text was full of wonderful quotes to help teachers, both novice and veteran. Here is one more before we jump into the depths of "Curriculum & Instruction as the Vehicle":

When we as teachers utilize the tools of our trade - curriculum & instruction - to ensure affirmation, contribution, power, purpose, and challenge, will we succeed in contributing significantly to the development of mind that is our charge (Tomlinson, 2003, p. 57). 

Remember that we are teaching people, and not just content. Let our students hear/see/feel that we want to learn about them and do whatever we can, using what we're teaching, to make sure [they] are fuller and more potent human being(s) than [they] were when [they] walked into our classrooms (adapted from Tomlinson, p. 58).

Feeling inspired yet?

If not, let's now take a closer look at one of the five elements of the curriculum & instruction cog. I'm sure you'll be inspired by the end!

Curriculum That is Important

How to be less burdened by the ever-growing hamster wheel of curriculum

• All the disciplines we teach helps all of us, young and old, answer life's questions:
1. What is life about?
2. Who am I in it?
3. How do I matter?
4. What does it mean to be human?
5. How does the world work?
6. How do I make a contribution to my world?

However. . . 

Students in schools that teach less and teach it better score higher on standardized tests than those in schools that sought to cover massive amounts of information

because

we need to make connections and meaning from information in order to really remember it.  The brain is inefficient at rote memorization, which is what happens when one is required to learn a lot of information in a relatively short amount of time.

(All of us college students - current and former, myself included - realize how much we don't remember after those late-night cramming sessions before a big test.)

So what?

We must help students understand frames of meaning withing the disciplines, how to ask useful questions, and how to find and use information efficiently and effectively.

It is up to us to uncover the essentials: what should students know, understand, and be able to do in each discipline.

We must move away from wanting to cover EVERYTHING, and move toward uncovering and distinguishing between what is essential, what is important and what would be nice to cover if there is time.

"We cannot teach the breadth of the entire world and at the same time achieve any depth of understanding" (Tomlinson, 2003, p. 58).

Therefore, the importance of curriculum is. . .

to help students:

1. master and retain essential information
2. organize knowledge around essential information/concepts
3. develop essential understandings, and
4. competently utilize essential skills 

Without these elements woven together and present in curriculum, students' learning will have gaps in it.

"Determining what is important in curriculum is the teacher's role. . .It is our responsibility (and opportunity). . .to make clear to students the information, ideas, practices, products, and attitudes that are the signatures of [each] discipline" (Tomlinson, 2003, p. 60).

Reference

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