Thursday, September 26, 2013

Taming the Fox

"Schools are like airport hubs; student passengers arrive from many different backgrounds for widely divergent destinations. Their particular takeoffs into adulthood will demand different flight plans."
This quote comes from Fulfilling the Promise of the Differentiated Classroom by Carol Ann Tomlinson. I think this quote is the perfect example of what a school is like. Each student passenger is from a different place and are going to different places. It is our jobs as teachers to direct them to the correct terminal and their ultimate destination. I have only read the first couple chapters so far, but I have made many notes about what makes for a good differentiation classroom.
I pulled from chapter one a few good points:
  • Teachers must take into account who they are teaching and what they are teaching
    • Who - Children
    • What - Fun interesting information that needs to apply to their individual lives at all possible.
  • Differentiating is responsive instruction
    • Direct instruction is a teachers easy go to if they are teaching a boring subject, a new subject, or they just have no interest or value in the subject. It has it's use and it is a great instruction model, but if you want a differentiated classroom you need to get your students involved. They need to have a feeling of involvement and motivation to learn.
  • Know your student
    • From this statement I get the imagine of a spread sheet. On the sheet is a list of students with their pictures. Each student has a small biography listing their birthday, favorites, and family information. But this is only part of the information a teacher needs on each of her students. Differentiation goes beyond the basic information, you need to know their learning background. You almost need to become a private detective and investigate each student thoroughly. Getting all the "dirt" on them and creating a profile that you can turn to.
There are four student traits that a teacher must address to ensure effective and efficient learning:
  1. Readiness: Student's understanding, knowledge, and skill related to a particular sequence of learning.
    1. the use of readiness instead of ability is key to a students learning. Readiness can vary over time and morph if needed.
  2. Interest: Topics or pursuits that evoke curiosity and passion in a leaner.
    1. Passion, I love that word. It's vibrant and it evokes a strong emotion when used.
    2. This is not the time to lecture about the use of electricity, but to get the students investigating the uses electricity has in everyday use. Bring your lesson to life!
  3. Learning Profile: How students learn best.
    1. Take gender, culture, intelligence, and preference when you create a lesson plan. You obviously can't include every child's preference, but venture out to something new in one lesson and try something else another time.
  4. Affect: How students feel about themselves, their work, and the classroom as a whole.
    1. Emotions!!!! Key to effective teaching!
The Little Prince
I remember reading this book in the seventh grade and not understanding its complexity and uniqueness. Because of this wonderful book Fulfilling the Promise of the Differentiated Classroom I have gotten a better glimpse of what The Little Prince offers to the reader. There is a passage on a part of the book called Taming the Fox. The Little Prince meets a fox in his adventure and attempts to play with it, but the Fox being a wild creature can't be tamed into playing with the Prince. If we put ourselves the teachers in the Princes place and our students into the position of the Fox, how can we expect them to work with us when we haven't tamed them? The Prince claims he is too busy to tame a Fox, but with some good advice is told "One only understands the things one tames". It takes time, patience, listening to tame each other. We must work with our students and they with us. It is a partnership of learning and grow.
 
 
Have you ever thought about the inner workings of a clock? How do all the pieces work together? When one piece stops working how does that affect the mechanics as a whole? The other model the chapter gave was the Cogs of Differentiation. The three work together and as a whole cog it stands independently.
The first cog is what the student seeks in the classroom, they require specific mechanics:
  • Affirmation
  • Contribution
  • Power
  • Purpose
  • Challenge
The second cog is how the teacher responds to the student, they use specific tools. They can be used as a sort of compass that will help teachers make decisions to adapt their instruction for student needs:
  • Invitation
  • Opportunity
  • Investment
  • Persistence
  • Reflection
The final cog is the use of curriculum and instruction as a vehicle for teaching. It needs tools like the other cogs:
  • Importance
  • Focused
  • Engaging
  • Demanding
  • Scaffold

The importance of using these models when preparing for a differentiated classroom are imperative. To become a successful teacher it's not only important to know your student, but to try to understand what they are asking from you. They are looking for the guidance we just need to provide it for them in ways that they can relate and understand!

Monday, September 23, 2013

Morning Meetings at Their Best

The other day we were fortunately enough to hear from Vineyard Elementary principal Sylvia Allen. She is an amazing principal and pervious teacher! She was a fifth grade teacher when I was attending Scera Park Elementary. I was not fortunate enough to have her, but I have heard amazing stories and experiences from my friends that were in her class. My little brother was lucky and had her when he was in fifth grade. She made the biggest difference in his life. He was a very sickly boy and had to miss many days at school. Sylvia was so amazing that she would come to our home and teach him one-on-one. She prepared all his lessons and homework each day. She is a one of a kind persona and teacher. I only hope I can be as amazing as she is. She set the standards high for future teachers.

In class she gave us this amazing handout of morning meetings. Even now as a principal she has her entire school do morning meetings once a week together and everyday in individual classes. On the first page is an outline of how a morning meeting goes in her class:
  • Class Creed
  • Greeting (Monday only)
  • Pledge
  • Memorization
  • Class Business
    • Vegetables (Things that are just good for us like what they are going to do in class that day)
    • Desserts (Something very specific they did well the day before)
    • Medicine (When there is a problem I can't fix any other way. It's nasty, but it cures our ills)
  • News
  • Share
  • Class Cheer
This is an amazing structure! She has implemented this so well.
Something not listed there is the idea of STORMS. These storms are the upsets in life. Instead of having her students come to her with all their problems she set up this idea of storms. Each student uses a basic grading scale to decide what kind of storm their heartache would be.
  1. Sunny Day
  2. Light Rain
  3. Heavy Rain
  4. Hale, Lightning and Thunder
  5. Tornado
  6. Typhoon
It puts the responsibility back in the students laps. They are in charge of how they will handle a situation and solve their own conflicts.
this morning meeting set up is unique and from what she said unified her class. She allowing her students to use their accountability and independence daily. It has many different aspects and tools that will help any student.

The last part I want to mention is the class creed she shared with us. It is beautiful and I think it will touch anyone's heart.

Now I am the VOICE 
I will LEAD not follow
I will BELIEVE not doubt
I will CREATE not destroy
I am a force for GOOD
I am a LEADER
DEFY THE ODDS
Set a NEW STANDARD
Step Up! Step Up! Step Up!

 

Thursday, September 12, 2013

Differentiation...what is it?

According to differentiationintheclassroom.com differentiation is defined as:
Differentiated instruction allows each student to learn at the depth, complexity, and pace that is most beneficial to him/her.  Differentiating curriculum and instruction is a rich and effective approach to use when providing for the needs of all students, including those with special education needs such as students with learning disabilities, gifted and talented students, and English language learners.

The philosophy of differentiation includes structuring classrooms so that there are provisions for:
  • Different ways to take in, work with, and learn information and different ways for students to show what they know;
  • Different amounts of time to complete the work;
  • Different approaches due to language acquisition and cultural differences;
  • Different levels of thinking, readiness, skills, and/or ability;
  • Different assignments for students in the same classroom; and
  • Different means to assess what has been learned.
What does this mean for my and your class's?
Well is simply means that each classroom needs to be engaging and beneficial to EACH student. Every child should have a meaningful experience. It may not always be possible as teachers to meet every need of every child, but it is our jobs to meet as many as possible.

This blog is dedicated to finding ways and tools that can help differentiation in my classroom.