Keep Moving Forward

Objectives or expectations are important to all lesson plans. The plan for any differentiated lessons need to have these aspects if you want your students to understand and do well during the lesson. There are some keys actions or tools for teachers when writing a lesson that come from the textbook:

• Explain what the students should know
• Explain what students should understand
• Explain what students should understand
• Also provide an essential question to guide exploration

It's important to be focused and engaging in all lessons. The textbook once again gives some great tips for doing just that:

• Focus student products around significant problems and issues
• Use meaningful audiences
• Help students discover how ideas and skill are useful in the world
• Provide choices that ensure focus
• Look for fresh ways to present and explore ideas
• Share your experiences and invite students to do the same

There also needs to be support for demanding curriculum and instruction:

• Use tired approaches
• Incorporate complex instruction
• Use a variety of rubrics to guide quality
• Provide learning contracts at appropriate times
• Aim high
• Take a "no excuses" stance
• Become computer savvy
• Help support realize success is the result of effort
• Use the new American lecture format
• Designate a "keeper of the book"
• Like a note taker for those that are absent. This allows students to get caught up on assignments with the help from other students.
• Try think dots
• Directly teach strategies for working successfully with text
• Use think aloud
• Use small group instruction as a regular part of instructional cycles
• Establish peer networks for learning
• Promote language proficiency
• Use weekend study buddies
• Bags for struggling learners to take home for the weekend. It will contain instructions, books, or materials for students to use over the weekend.
• Make peer-critique or peer-review sessions a regular feature
• Cue and coach student responses
• Team with resource specialists

This chapter had so many good ideas to help support students and help them reach their potential. I especially liked the think dots, weekend buddies, and keeper of the book ideas. Your student can all be successful with the right support and direction. Keep looking forward, but don't forget those great experiences that can be used too.

Be Your Own Teacher!

Differentiation, or an important part of differentiation, is like a wedding cake. There are many layers and they are all different sizes or cuts. They all have the same ingredients, but are different levels. A good teacher is one that teaches the WHOLE class from bottom to the top. It is also teaching each child at the level they, as individuals, require. It should be engaging for all levels!

The Layers

The bottom layer is those students that need basic, very supportive work.

The middle layers could be one cake or more. These layers become more and more independent as they move up.

The top layer is the most independent students in the class. They are more capable of doing work on their own.

 

*Below is an example of how tiering can be applied to a lesson:

 

 

It is also like a stew. Students won't stay in the same place all day. They need to be part of the "stew", providing something unique and flavorful.

 

The other part of my class the other day was a presentation from a teacher named Mr. Youd. He talked to us about morning meetings. He tries to make his meetings upbeat, positive, and exciting everyday.

Goals! He has his class set a goal for the day and they talk about their goal the day before and if they had met it. An important part of the morning meeting is giving students time to talk, share, and be excited.

Leadership! He doesn't set up any group leaders, the power needs to remain with him so if changes need to be made he can do so quickly and without problems.

Games! Games need to change regularly and how the students are teamed up. Start a collection of games and right down any new rules or adaptations made to a normal game.

Sharing! Doing random shares keeps things light and different. There isn't a mundane feeling in the class. They need to be things that gets the students thinking. There can be a few people sharing or the whole class. It allows students a chance to express their feelings and open up.

Manners! This may be the most important part of morning meetings! Rules are great, but if you can teach your students manners all the other rules just fall into place without being said. Be that boss that is a friend and promotes good actions, instead of a boss that yells at you for lame reason. No one likes to be told what to do or have strict rules placed upon them.

Poems, Music, Character Ed are some great additional tools in morning meeting. Just keep it you, your style. Be your own Teacher!

 

Here is a fabulous website he gave us: www.mrsgolds.com

Easy is Not Always the Best course

Chapter five of the Differentiation textbook explains the importance of using curriculum and instruction as a vehicle for teaching.
Is there such a thing as a good teacher compared to a bad teacher? I personally think there are teachers that are good at connecting information to their students lives. They are those teachers that act as a bridge to good knowledge for students. A 'bad' teacher can be defined as those teachers that teacher a subject, while those 'good' teachers teach students a subject.
How can curriculum and instruction be used as a vehicle?

• Important "We cannot teach the breadth of the entire world and at the same time achieve any depth of understanding" The world is expanding and is information.
• What we study is essential to the structure of the discipline
• What we study provides a roadmap toward expertise in a discipline
• how can we use it?
• What we study is essential to building student understanding
• Avoid "coverage" and look for "uncoverage" of information
• make it full of meaning and applicable to life.
• What we study balances knowledge, understanding, and skill
• curriculum can be a mile wide and only an inch deep, it won't provide real learning

• Focused "No more building sugar cube igloos without it connecting to essential knowledge."
• Whatever we do is unambiguously aligned with the articulated and essential learning goals
• Whatever we do is designed to get us where we need to go
• Both the teacher and students know why we doing what we're doing
• Both the teacher and students know bigger picture knowledge, understanding, and skill

• Engaging "Students need a feeling of accomplishment or satisfaction while enjoying their work."
• Students most often find meaning in their work
• Students most often find the work intriguing
• Students see themselves and their world in the work
• Students see value to others in the work
• Students find the work provokes their curiosity
• Students often find themselves absorbed by the work

• Demanding "We believe each person knows quite clearly what it means to do one's best, and that everyone, given a chance, would like to savor that experience as often as possible."
• The work is most often a bit beyond the reach of each learner
• Student growth is nonnegotiable
• no watering down information
• Standards for work and behavior are high
• Students are guided in working and thinking like professionals
• There is no "loose" time

• Scaffolded "Raise the celling of performance for each learner."
• The teacher teaches for success
• Criteria for success are clear to students
• Criteria for classroom operation and student behavior are clear to students
• Varied materials support growth of a range of learners
• Varied modes of teaching support a variety of learners
• Varied avenues to learning support a variety of learners
• Small and large group instruction focuses on varied learner needs
• Varied peer support mechanisms are consistently available
• The teacher uses modeling, organizers, and other strategies to point out success

Two principles lie at the heart of envisioning the role of curriculum and instruction in creating ties with students:

1. The opportunity to be shaped by rich, defensive curriculum ought to belong to every learner.
2. Learners need to interact with curriculum in ways that work for them.

Curriculum and instruction need to be engaging, important, demanding, scaffold, and focused. To be that "good" teacher your students need all they element in their lessons. They need to know they are important and what they learn is important!

Help Them Grow Their Wings

How do you show your students what you feel about them? In chapter 4 of the Differentiation textbook it provides some good examples of what your students should feel or hear. Create that environment and space where they can grow and spread their wings. Don't stunt them with your own doubts and fears. They have so much potential!

• You are unique and valuable as individuals, and we are important as a class.
• We are here to help you find and develop abilities as individuals and as a class.
• Our goal is to help each person and our class become as capable as a possible.
• This is an important goal, and work we do to achieve it must be both important and challenging.
• The time we have to achieve our goal is valuable.
• Therefore, we have to figure out together how to work in the most effective and efficient ways we can.
• We'll need to learn about one another and ourselves, so we know where we need to go and how we're doing in getting there.
• We'll need to determine guidelines for working, so we can reach our goal, both individually and as a class.
• We'll need to figure out working routines that enable us to succeed in reaching our goals, both individually and as a class.
• We'll need to develop support systems to ensure that we continually grow, both individually and as a class.
• Like all important goals, our goal will require investment and persistence.

"You'll see those things in me as your teacher. I'll expect to see them in you as individuals and in our class as a whole. I need you to join me in making our class work for each of us." This is called a Map of Thought. It is the thought process that teachers can follow when weighing decision and actions.
The environment of the classroom is an important aspect when teaching. It is the first messenger of how learning will be in the class. The teacher is to act as the primary architect of the physical attributes and the climate.
In one of the scenarios Mr. Atcheson uses flash cards every couple weeks to gauge how his students are doing. On one side they write how they are doing in the class and on the other side they write something about themselves that they think he will find interesting and useful. He uses this as a way to build bonds with his students. The better he knows them the better he can teach them.
Ways to promote a positive classroom:

• Study Students Cultures
• Convey Status
• Commend Creativity
• Make Room for All Kinds of Learners
• Help Students Know About One Another (Word Jars, Idea Jars, Question Boxes)
• Celebrate Success
• Hold Goal-Setting Conference
• Use Dialogue Journals
• Incorporate Teacher Talk Groups in Lesson Plans

The book also offers some great rules or guidelines for classroom operation:

1. We will show respect for people, their ideas, and their property
2. We will work hard to ensure our own growth of others
3. We will persist, even when things are difficult and uncertain
4. We will accept responsibility for the quality of our work and for our behaviors and actions

Other strategies that will enhance classroom operation:

• Time is Valuable: use spare moments well
• Fair is ensuring all learners get what they need to succeed
• Teach up, work up!

Routines that support flexible teaching

• Use Visual Cues
• Pre-establish Groups
• Use Goal Cards Regularly
• Teach for Smooth Transitions

Supports for learner success:

• Vary Materials
• Use Graphic Organizers to Help Structure and Extend Thinking
• Provide Survival Packets
• Use Participation Prompts
• Build Language Bridges

Ways to help with shared responsibilities:

• Use Evaluation Checklists
• Involve Students in Scheduling Decisions
• Engage Students in Assessing Their Own Progress
• Help Students Learn to Set Their Own Academic Goals

There are so many fabulous tools the book provides for making a classroom positive and effective for your students. Success is important, any help is good help!

Some Insights...

Differentiation can be defined in a classroom by eight traits. A truly differentiating teacher needs to have most if not all these traits in their classroom. These traits, known as Hallmarks, provide the essential characteristics a differentiating classroom has.

Hallmarks

1. A strong LINK between assessment and instruction. These two are inseparably from each other, they create a strong CHAIN in the differentiated classroom. The links of that chain are: 

• assessing students knowledge, understanding, and skill in the both formal and informal ways
• Making ongoing adjustments to instructional plans to ensure progression towards individual and group goals.
2. Absolute CLARITY about what the teacher WANTS the students to know, understand, and be able to do - about what is truly important to learn in this unit. Here is the time to give clear instructions so teachers can focus on essential learning goals, but with varying degrees of complexity. BE CLEAR!!
3. Shared RESPONSIBILITY for the classroom is between TEACHER and STUDENTS, in the goal of making it work for everyone. Like a ant farm, every member of the colony makes a contribution.
   
   Even the smallest addition is important to the bigger picture. It's a cycle of teacher helping students and students providing important contributions. With out the second Hallmark this one can not happen!
4. Individual GROWTH is emphasized as central to classroom success. The teacher acts as a gardener to their grove of flowers. Each flower is different and unique, but they each act as an important member of the garden. The teacher needs to provide all they need (a good home, water, sunlight) so that each flower can grow. But it's also the responsibility of the other flowers to help support those that are not at their best for the time being.
   
5. A "WAY UP" usually through multiple and varied pathways, and never a "WAY OUT". A differentiated task in the classroom is to provide a support system that helps students "navigate" the unknown parts of their work/world. This means teachers need to "teach up" (scaffolding) and not "teach down" to students. At least offer two different options that can happen in the classroom.
   
6. "Respectful" and EGNAGING WORK for all students. Differentiation is finding those pathways each child can learn best on. A teacher needs to aim for the same goal, but the way there will be unique for all students.
   
   Like Goldilocks and the Three Bears, the porridge chair and beds each needed to be specific for her. the porridge can be linked to what students take in and the chair can be linked to how they act.
7. FLEXIBLE grouping. Provide a variety of groups for students through out the day. They need to learn to work with other students and can meet more of their needs. It gives them more of a purpose in the class if they can be part of many different things.
8. FLEXIBLE use of time, space, and materials. Arrange the classroom that will most beneficial to the whole class.

All of these Hallmarks provide useful tools and important aspects of a differentiated classroom.

"Fair is not everyone getting the same, but fair is everyone getting what they need"

 

Insights from an insightful teacher!

The final part of the post I want to talk about another Differentiating blog written by the darling Leslie! She posts the cutest quotes. Her posts are quick and to the point, she only says what she deems important. She posted about setting your expectations high for your students. Don't underestimate your students they will surprise you. Encourage them and let them know you believe in their abilities! One quote I thought was beautiful from her blog was one by Thomas Jefferson.

Leslie I hope you know that I think you are fabulous and are going to make a FANTASTIC teacher!



From Cannot to Can!

I want to take a look at the fabulous textbook once again. I recently read chapter three and I felt that many things in the chapter needed noting.
Teaching individual students and becoming connected to them can so easily be excused away. We can say that there isn't enough time in the day. There are too many students to maintain a connection to each. There is only one level in the textbook in the class. There aren't enough materials to do I want. Students don't come to us, they can't learn independently. The Job is all consuming. There are many, many more excuses out there. I could find my favorite excuse and it could be very valid, but how does having that excuse make me a better teacher? If I lake in being a normal teacher how can I expect to be a teacher of Differentiation? We need to push past all these excuses and make that effort!! It's sooooo important, our students are counting on us to be their guides, friends, and mentors.
We are the dispensers of information to our students, but we need to be more than just that. We need to design our classroom to be places that democracy, dignity, and diversity can be forged. Meier promoted this ideal. She goes on to say, we need to look beyond what we cannot teach to what we can teach! She said that her faculty was not remarkable because they are more gifted that other teachers or because they went to more exclusive colleges. They are remarkable, because they live what they believe. They say to themselves, "I want to be a leader in creating a place where each of you becomes more keenly aware of the possibilities in yourself, the people around you, and the power of knowledge. In this place, I want us to find together a good way to live." We don't need a road map to direct us, we just need to find North and forge our own path with our students. Create a unity in the class and work along side students.
A key component it how we respond to our students needs. There are five key points to focus on:

1. Invitation
• I have respect for who you are and who you can become
• I want to know you*
• You are unique and valuable
• I believe in you*
• I have time for you*
• I learn when I listen to you
• This place is yours too
• We need you here*
2. Opportunity
• I have important things for you to do here today
• The things I ask you to do are worthy things*
• The things I ask you to do are often daunting
• The things I ask you to do open new possibilities for you*
• the things I give you to do here help you become all you can be*
• You have specific roles that us all more efficient and effective
3. Investment
• I work hard to make this place work for you
• I work to make this place reflect you*
• I enjoy thinking about what we do here
• I love to find new paths to success*
• It is my job to help you succeed*
• I am your partner in growth*
• I will do what it takes to ensure your growth
4. Persistence
• You're growing, but you're not finished growing
• When one route doesn't work, there are others we can find
• Let's figure out what works best*
• There are no excuses here, but there is support*
• There is no finish line in learning
5. Reflection
• I watch you and listen to you carefully and systematically
• I make sure to use what I learn to help you learn better*
• I try to see things through your eyes*
• I continually ask, "How is this partnership working?"*
• I continually ask, "How can I make this better?"

*I love these phrases and supports. Students need to hear and feel all these things in the classroom as often as possible.
There was an idea I really liked from the book, it was about collecting troubles in a trouble basket. In Esme Codell's book (I mentioned in the previous post) she talks about three things she must do in her class each day. 1. Say good morning to every single child in a real and chipper voice. She will wait for them to say it back. 2. She collects "troubles" in a "Trouble Basket", a big green basket into which students will act out unloading their worries at home so they can work. 3. Each student must give her a word at the beginning of the day, it can be any word and she keeps it in an envelop on the board. Preferably it should be a word they heard and don't know the meaning of it. They go over the words when they do private reading conferences.
Give each student an opportunity- work in pursuit of a dream. I love that thought! I want to use dreams as a theme in my class, every person needs a dream in life. This phrase specifically means enlivening the classroom and minds. Creating experiences we would want for us, for our children, or something we experienced that we treasure.
These teachers are invested and invested teachers:

• Share their thoughts about the classroom with their students
• Make links with students lives outside the classroom
• Act as mentors, advocates, and partners for students
• Personally engaged in what they ask their students to do

We need to provide the roots and wings for learners to embrace their dreams and ideals. We need to see that every students is unlike every other and that we need to form ties with those students!

Educating Esme

Impetus: The force or energy with which a body moves. Energy, every classroom needs to have this important component. According to chapter 2 of Fulfilling the Promise of the Differentiated Classroom students need this term when differentiation is being used. Abraham Maslow taught that humans need their basic needs met before any energy to learning can be made.
Emotions are more important than learning! Or in other words, emotional needs trump any need to learn. Have you ever noticed that when you are overwhelmed or anxious or stressed you have a harder time remembering basic tasks or knowledge? It's because all your energy is going into what stress is on your mind. You mind is blocking the doorway into learning. For students they don't' arrive saying, "Please teach me math and science." They instead come thinking, "Will I be accepted here? Will my thoughts be important to the class? Can I contribute anything?"

Learners have five key needs:

1. Affirmation
• I am accepted here
• I am safe here
• People listen to me here
• People know how I am doing
• People believe in me
• My interests and perspectives are noticed and acted on
2. Contribution
• I make a difference in this place
• I bring abilities and perspectives that are unique
• I help others and the class succeed
• I am connected to others through mutual work on common goals
3. Power
• What I learn is useful to me now
• I make choices that contribute to my success
• I understand how this place operates and what is expected of me
• I know what quality looks like and how to achieve it
• There is dependable support here for my journey
4. Purpose
• I understand what we do here
• I see significance in what we do here
• What we learn reflects me and my world
• The work we do makes a difference in the world
• The work absorbs me
5. Challenge
• The work here complements my ability
• The work stretches me
• I work hard
• I am accountable for my own growth and the growth of others
• I often accomplish thing here I didn't believe were possible

I think that people as a whole need all of this in all aspects of their lives, but children need it the most. They are still in their years of trying to figure out the world and their place in it. The better these needs are met the better they will do in the world. They can be connected far better to the people around them.

Differentiation mean all students may have the same basic needs, those will manifest themselves in different ways, depending on many factors. All needs come at different times and we can never know when those times are. It's important for us to have a plan for when they do.
The book talks about a dairy written by Esme Raji Codell called Educating Esme. It is the story of a first year teacher in a Chicago public school.
"Fresh-mouthed and free-spirited, the irrepressible Madame Esmé—as she prefers to be called—does the cha-cha during multiplication tables, roller-skates down the hallways, and puts on rousing performances with at-risk students in the library. Her diary opens a window into a real-life classroom from a teacher’s perspective. While battling bureaucrats, gang members, abusive parents, and her own insecurities, this gifted young woman reveals what it takes to be an exceptional teacher. 

Heroine to thousands of parents and educators, Esmé now shares more of her ingenious and yet down-to-earth approaches to the classroom in a supplementary guide to help new teachers hit the ground running. " This explanation comes from Amazon.com

It is an excellent example of the needs of students. It's easy to look at the things you haven't done, but it's better to look toward the future and embrace fantastic opportunity we have as teachers to shape lives and make a difference. We can make the choice now to work on those needs our students have!

A Little More On Morning Meetings

A comment on morning meetings....
I have already talked about what morning meetings are and their benefits. They are this fantastic tool teachers can use in their classroom to promote class unity and bonds among the class. The other day three  of my classmates and myself presented our version of a morning meeting. Each of use took a part of the meeting. We decided to use Disney as our theme. I love Disney as a whole, it promotes dreaming and seeing beyond our front door.
Brianna Call was in charge of greetings. She created a darling introduction song based off of The Toy Story. It went as followed:

"You've got a friend in me

You've got a friend in me

You've got trouble, I've got them too

There isn't anything I wouldn't do for you

We'll stick together and see it through

You've got a friend in me

You've got a friend in me"

 

Ashleigh was in charge of the sharing time and she did a lightning share. She had three people sign up to share about their favorite Disney movie. Each person shared what movie they liked most and why. They allowed the whole class to ask three questions about their share and that was all.

Leah was in charge of the activity. She created a Disney style Celebrity game. At the beginning of class she gave each person a red or orange bracelet creating two teams. The Celebrity game is played similarly to charades. Each team has one person from the their team that tries to get the whole team to guess as many Disney characters in one minute. The game was broken into three rounds:

1. The first was that they could only use descriptive words for the character. They couldn't say their name or any nick names.
2. The second round was similar to the first, but they could only use one word to describe the character. Again they couldn't say any names.
3. The last round was purely charades. They had to act out the character for the team.

The last part of our morning meeting was the News and Announcements. That was done by me. I created a poster that had four Disney ecosystems. As the students walked in they were to mark which ecosystem they would like to live in. For my time I talked about what each ecosystem was and what movies they could be found in. I also passed around two other ecosystems that were not on the poster. We also graphed the different ecosystems according to everyone preference. I thought that this part could lead well into a science, social studies, or math lesson and transition the class from morning meeting to actually class time.   

Ecosystems I used:

 

Morning Meetings with a theme can be so fun and students may be able to relate to subjects better. Everyone knows Disney and it could be used in a variety of ways.