Wrap It Up

     So this is it, the end, the conclusion of my bogs.  How much have I learned by reading and writing about Fulfilling the Promise Of The Differentiated Classroom?  I have learned more than I have ever learned from an assigned reading before.  Why did I learn so much?  I learned because, I found it interesting, I found informational, and I found it to be important.  This book does what it talks about. It presented the information in a way that was interesting and applicable to things that will be going on in my world.  I was able to make the connections to the things I know will be important.  This book not only told me good ways to differentiate instruction, but also showed my what the practices look like when they are being used in a classroom.

     Relationships and connections with students have always been of interest to me and I have always worked at a way of defining the type of relationship that will benefit my classroom.  This book did a great job of helping me to define my feelings and showing why it was important in a differentiated classroom.  We must know and understand our students in order to differentiate for them in order to meet their needs.

     The title of this post was "Wrap It Up"  I think that is a little deceiving.  This may be the end of my post and I may have completed the book, but to be effective this must be the beginning.  In order to take what I have learned in this book and during this course I must continue to learn, know my students, and find ways to respond to their needs.  If I am going to be a great teacher then this can only be the beginning of my knowledge.  

Let Me Begin!!!

Passion

     The final portion of chapter 7 and the book are more metaphors.  A reference back to taming the fox, a grandmothers gravy, and a bread maker.  Two things really hit home with me in few pages of this book.  We must learn from the students,and we must develop a passion.  If we can successfully master these two things we will become the teacher that changes young lives.  

   In the metaphor of Taming The Fox it is the fox who becomes the teacher.  We must allow ourselves to be teacher and learner.  Every day students will show us what is effective and what is not.  We must be able to decipher the clues, or the lesson they are teaching and reflect to make our response better.  We can never think we know it all, but learn from every student that we have.  We must be aware of what their needs are and make adjustment to our responses.  It is impossible to know everything or have the perfect system as children will change over time and we must learn and change as well.  No class will be the same as another, because no student is the same as another.
      I enjoyed the metaphor about the grandmothers gravy and it hit home with me.  I have yet to walk into a classroom and know that I was a central piece of it.  I can not claim to have a passion for teaching as I have never done it.  I can say that I have a passion for learning how to become a teacher, but not a teacher.  If we can keep the passion at every level we will develop that passion for teaching.  As I was reading this I thought of another example, dating.  How does dating apply to obtaining a passion for teaching? Well, how does spaghetti sauce?  In dating, on that first date it is very hard to develop a true passion and love for the other person.  You are nervous and just trying to find out about the other person, but if you like them over time you could develop a love for that person. Teaching can be the same, enjoy the step you are at, learn as much as you can, and one day the passion will be there. To become a great teacher you must be passionate, but it simply starts with doing your best, caring about student needs, and enjoying the process. 

 
   

It Is Hard Because...

     I think we all agree that teaching is hard.  Teaching may not be rocket science or brain surgery, but it is just as difficult and failure is just as tragic.  We do not have one task or one set of skills, but we must have thousands to touch 30 students every year, year after year.  All 30students do not learn the same way, and next years 30 will learn different than last years 30.  The only people who think teaching is easy are those who have not done it or those who are doing it wrong.  We all agree that this teaching thing is a tough gig, but what makes it so hard.  Chapter 7 of Fulfilling the Promise does a great job of pointing out why it is difficult to be an effective teacher.  The book gives a very comprehensive list on why it is difficult, but I do not think it is all inclusive.  Just like every student is different every teacher is different and will have a set of challenges that are unique to them.  The text does a good job of covering the most common problems and the pressures that nearly all teachers will feel.

      It is hard because you have 30 students, all with different personalities and attitudes.  Some students are easy to care for, but others you must work at.  The student who constantly shouts out or is disruptive in other ways while you are teaching a lesson that you know is important.  It is hard because you have too many students and to find the time to spend building a connection and a relationship take time, time that is difficult to come by.

     It is hard because you have a life outside of the classroom and school doors.  You have responsibilities to family and friends and they require your time and talents.  It is hard to find the balance between students and life.  Both are important and both need you.

     It is hard because we must constantly be learning new ways to ensure learning in our classroom.  We must learn how to make sure that each student in our class is getting the things they need to be productive and effective students and people.  We do not know how to teach responsively.  If we are one of the lucky fews who had great teachers modeling high-quality learning thats great, but just because it was effective for us does not mean it will be effective with the students in our current class.  

     It is hard because we have outside pressures telling us what we need to teach.  They may even be telling us how to teach.  Not all information we get will be the best for students, but possibly the best for scoring high on high stakes tests.  We may feel that students are being reduced to simple scores on these tests.

     Without a doubt, teaching is hard.  Mentioned above are only a few of the challenges we will face and the demands that will be placed upon us.  Mentioned in prior posts was the charge that we take no excuses from our students when learning becomes hard.  We can take no excuses when teaching becomes hard.  It will be hard, but we must embrace the challenge and do it because it is hard.

How Do I Become A High Quality Teacher

     Chapter 7 of Fulfilling the Promise is titled The Simple Hard Truth about Teaching.  The chapter gets into why it is hard to be a quality teacher with all of the demands placed on you, but that information can wait.  The chapter also describes what is high-quality teaching and I feel much more inclined to cover that at this time.  This entire book does a wonderful job of pointing out how we can become great teachers and much to my appreciation it gives examples of quality teaching.  Chapter 7 is no different.  If you can only read one chapter of this book I would recommend that it be chapter 7.  Chapter 7 defines what it takes to be a great teacher and gives research-proven methods to becoming that teacher.

     First of all lets define what high-quality teaching is.  It may be a little different for everyone, but the base principal that high-quality education is the exact same as responsive teaching which is the same as differentiated teaching.  For teachers who are in love with their job it can only be for one reason. Obviously that reason is not money nor is it power.  It is very simply that teaching gives us a chance to have long lasting positive effects on a child.  I mentioned in an earlier post that I am selfish.  I want to be that teacher that touches the lives of students and shows them the potential they have and provides a starting point for them to reach that potential.  

     The question becomes how do I become that effective and influential teacher?  As I mentioned before, read this book, but if not read chapter 7.  Chapter 7 lists research-based characteristics of quality teaching, from a book by James Stronge.  There are two complete pages of the characteristics listed in chapter 7.  I will not cover them all, but I will discuss some of my favorites.  

•  Student want teachers who respect them, listen to them, show empathy, and help them work out their problems.  Students want teachers who show their human side by sharing parts of their lives with them.  What is written above to me can be broken down into the simplest terms.  Students want teachers who care about them.
• Teachers who care develop positive relationships with students.  Students can tell when a teacher cares about them.  When a teacher cares about them students develop a trust in the teacher. Students will know that everything that a teacher does is in their best interest.  Once a student has developed that trust we have a positive relationship.  
• The best teachers who are looking to form bonds with students find out about the students culture and background.  It is not enough to know a student is white, black, poor, or wealthy.  A good teacher must not make stereotypical decisions, but must go find out what each student believes or has been taught.  
• If I want to be a great teacher I must have a deep belief and faith in my own efficacy.  A quick definition of efficacy is that of believing that you can accomplish whatever you set out to do.  In the education world that means that I believe I can get any student to learn and improve themselves.  A question that arose for me on this topic was this.  Can a beginning teacher come in with this sense of efficacy or must it be earned by trial and error in the classroom.  I do not know for sure, but I do believe that while you are waiting for this belief to come that all student will learn from you, you must act like it until you do believe it.
• Teachers who make connections to the problems and issues that are in the students world will create a deeper understanding for the student.  Make the lessons focused on the ability or knowledge you want the student to obtain and apply it to something they already know about or want to know about.

     The last one I will cover is my favorite and will not go into the bullets above.  "Effective teachers take responsibility for student outcomes."  You may have all the knowledge in the world and provide the best instruction ever seen, but if the students do not learn, you have not succeeded.   It is not enough to put out the information, but we must ensure learning.  If students do not learn it is not their fault, rather it is ours and we must learn quickly from it and correct the problem.

     Okay, that is what high quality teaching is all about.  What makes it hard to do?  Next post I will cover why it is so hard to become a great teacher.


     

It Will Be Hard, But We Have Tools

     We are going to offer students curriculum and instruction that is demanding and will prepare them for the challenging world that they live in.  We will challenge them with subject specific vocabulary and tasks that seem out of reach.  We are going to make everything as difficult, focused, and relevant as we possibly can, but with one thought in mind, they must find success.  It is difficult to complete any job with out the proper tools.  A carpenter can not create cabinets without a good square, a fisherman can not catch fish without a pole, and students and educators can not create knowledge, skills, and abilities without tools.  In chapter 6 many tools are discussed with the idea that they can be used to differentiate instruction and curriculum to every student in our classroom.  

     Just as the carpenter must have multiple tools and chose the correct one for the task at hand, we must have a full toolbox to provide our students with every chance at success.  What are the tools that we can use?  They are simply ways we can scaffold the curriculum or instruction so that we can get every student in the class to reach new heights.  Not all of the tools we have will have a use with every student, but we must find what tool fits individual students.

     One of my favorite tools is the learning contract?  Learning contracts are valuable as they offer flexibility to students who at varied interest and readiness levels.  Not only are learning contracts flexible, but can be used with individual students, pairs of students, or even small groups,  Simply put the learning contract is an agreement between teacher and student(s) that specify a way for the student to learn.  It may be a contract where a struggling student is going to learn in his own way or where a student who is advanced in one area is going to go above and beyond the assigned classroom project.  Learning contract also have built into them responsibility and accountability, which is an important part of becoming a better student and citizen.

   One of the best tools that I have just been introduced to is that of the learning menu.  In the learning menu the student has choices for assignments, projects, and method of learning.  Students who were given a choice feel that ownership that has been mentioned, and also are allowed to select a learning style that fits them individually.  The end result for all students, no matter the choice, is that the objective is accomplished.  Students can get to the end of the road anyway they want.  The work created by using a learning menu is more than a normal lesson plan as the teacher must plan several methods for the student to obtain the new knowledge or skill, but it is worth it.  Why is it worth it?  When students get to pick the method that they will acquire a new ability or knowledge the learning has a much better chance of becoming eternal.  

     Tomlinson has offered an entire tool kit in Fulfilling the Promise, and while I  covered my favorite from her book and added the learning menu's as I think it fits here, there are many more tools available for use.  The ability to not only differentiate each student, but the ability to differentiate each tool based on the student is an incredible resource.

It Will Be Hard, But We Will Succeed

     We have all heard the saying that "It will be hard, but it will be worth it".  I would like to believe that this is always true, but honestly, it is not.  We have all had assignments that were hard and never have we found how they mattered or what the worth of the assignment was.  It is my job to provide challenging tasks to my students to help them grow, but I must make it valuable and meaningful to them.  I must explain to them explicitly why it is important for them to learn the skill or obtain the knowledge.  I must show them how it will assist them in the their current world and how it will help them become better people.  To get each child to grow we must place work just outside of their current ability or knowledge and then provide a way for them to meet the challenge and feel the rewards of overcoming a demanding task.  Chapter six of Fulfilling the Promise contains information on the importance of demanding more from students than they think is possible and using tools to ensure their personal growth.  This will be a two-part post.  This post will cover methods in which we can provide assistance to help students overcome demanding tasks.  The second post will cover tools from the toolbox that can be used to help every student reach their full potential.

   As discussed earlier, students get a strong feeling of affirmation and power, along with the other characteristics of what they seek, when we challenge them and provide a way for them to succeed.  It is impossible to challenge an entire class.  When we try to reach the entire class with the same challenges we help very few of them.  Only the student who is exactly at the readiness level at what we are teaching will be assisted.  The majority of the students will fit into one of the two other categories.  The lesson will be to easy and bore them and provide rob them of any sense of accomplishment.  The other category will be students who we tasked at a level that was so far over their heads that they will not be able to accomplish the task and will also be cheated out of success.

     There our a variety of methods we can use to ensure we reach individual students.  First we must pre-assess our students so we can find out where their readiness level is.  Once this is completed we can tier our instructions and tasks to the readiness level of the student.  In order to do this we will have to teach to small groups.  Groups can and should be paired by readiness levels.  Once we have established the small groups we can help students set up peer review and study groups.  We may have to spend time with each group teaching the skills that are required for success.  We may need to show some groups how to read a text and pull out the critical information, but with another group we may skip that step and provide additional reading material or web sources for them to extend the instruction. 

     The bottom line is that we will accept no excuses for a student not to learn and improve.  We will offer instruction and tasks that  demand them to shoot for stars they never thought they could reach.  Students are to important for failure to be an option and when students fail we fail.  One of my favorite quotes from the coaching world applies here. "Win or learn, never lose".  We will have set backs and success will not come easy, but if we continue to learn from our shortcomings as teachers and students we will succeed in the end.

What I Ask You To Do Is Imprtant

     Chapter six of Fulfilling The Promise is very similar to chapter four in that chapter four was all about taking what we know about responding to student needs and applying it in the classroom and chapter six is taking the characteristics of great curriculum and instruction and using it in the classroom.  Chapter six contains so many good ideas and examples that one to two posts is not enough to cover it.  This chapter will be broken down into three posts.  The first will cover how we as teachers provide work for the students that is important, focused, and engaging.  The second two posts will break down work that is demanding and scaffolded.

     If we can provide lessons that are focused on what is important in a way that engages the students we have a much better chance of getting students to the ultimate goal of enduring knowledge, skill, and ability.  The text gives several strategies that are very helpful in ensuring that teacher instruction meets the characteristics of good curriculum and instruction in the important, focused, and engaging departments.

Focus Student Products on Problems and Issues in Their World
Students have a much better chance of understanding the importance of a lesson if what they will produce or learn is focused on a problem or issue that is applicable to the world they live in.  When the lessons we teach are relevant to the events or problems students see and hear about every day the lessons become more than classroom rambles full of random information.  The lessons become tools in which are students can have an influence on the world.  They can see the importance of learning and make connections directly to the things that matter most to them.  To use an example, knowing that 2+2=4 is an important piece of knowledge, but it becomes much more important if a student is a great baker and wants to double a cookie recipe that calls for 2 cups of flour.  Good curriculum and instruction allows students to see the importance of learning.

Use Meaningful Audiences
     Students will make more effort when the products of their new learning can be displayed to the people that matter to them.  Teachers matter to students but if they know they are going to display what they have learned to others outside the classroom the effort on learning becomes more intense.  I made a comparison to a basketball team.  Teams practice hard and work hard to impress their coach, but practice takes on an entire new dynamic because students know they will be performing, what they have learned, in front of family and community.  Practicing in a closed gym with only a coach would soon lose it's novelty if the players did not know that at some point they would be displaying their skills for a much bigger audience.  Students will work harder and with more purpose once they know that their learning will be displayed outside the classroom.  Quality work by students should be shown to parents, grandparents, school administration, and younger students.

What I Learn Can Be Used in the World
     It is important that students understand that what we are teaching them will assist them in dealing with the world they live in.  The knowledge they learn will help them make sense of what they see and the abilities and skills will allow them to make changes to what they see.  If I am want students to learn that they do effect their world, why not show them the effects in our classroom and make it real.  Lessons should not be to be abstract information with vague applications, but rather real world situations where what the student learns applies immediately to an event that is concrete.  We, as a class, may not be able to change the world right now, but if we learn the skills and abilities needed we will change the world at some point.

Provide Choices
One of the characteristics of what a student needs is power.  By giving the student choices they become empowered in their own learning.  When a student has choices on a how they learn the learning will become much more personal, because they chose how the learned.  They have the power to say I will learn this because it is my choice and I want to.  Now you can not be teaching a lesson on fractions and give students the choice of learning about fractions or space travel.  The choices must be centered around the knowledge, skill, or ability they must learn, but how they learn should have options.  An example of this is in this very class.  I know a student went into Dr. Peterson and made a request to do a project that was not on the learning menu.  Dr. Peterson and the student discussed the project and decided that it accomplished the learning goals so it became a choice for all students.  As a teacher, I do not what is the best way for every student to learn, so I must have choices that allow each student to learn in the way that is best for them.

Find New Ways to Explore Topics
     Their is more than one way to skin a cat.  I know that we do not skin cats, but what I am trying to say is that there is more than one way to provide quality learning for our students.  Above, I talked about  how choices help students learn, but to provide the choices it may take extra work on my part.  I need to think outside the box and find different ways to get the information to my students.  I am not a musical dance type person, but I will have students who are and learn best when music is applied.  I will have to get out of my comfort zone and teach using dance and music to assist my students.  We must teach in ways that are not the best method for us, but the best method for student learning.