Week 7

What do you, individually, still need to know and understand in order to tier (differentiate) a lesson of your own choosing?

I think I was well taught and I feel comfortable in the idea of planning a tiered lesson. What I do need to know is this: I need to know about my students! That of course cannot be provided in our class, but I am sure excited about having a classroom of my own and learning about my students and how to access their strengths. I like what you mentioned in your blog about the fact that you could feel confident in your teaching because you had structured the lesson so we all would be able to work well (in our Zones of Proximal Development) so you knew who would need more of your supervision and could be comfortable with the others working on their own a bit. I think that most teaching that is not differentiated will mean for some kids just filling time... with something that may or may not be very rewarding. It sounds like the same goes for you as a teacher... just getting a lesson plan together is different than really getting into your work, and when that happens, like it did for you, something really rich and meaningful happens. Teachers and students are really not very different creatures, we want to stretch, but not so much that it breaks us and we want to feel like what we do is meaningful. I want to be a great teacher, and I want to learn to differentiate... I also want to be a great mommy some day and I can see it being difficult to try and meet the needs of all of the kids in my home, not to mention all of the kids in a classroom. But, I recognize that working at tiers means kind of clustering kids around a level, and not trying to plan for 31 different kids. I can do it! I'm excited!

Week 6 Reflection

Answer questions 1 and 2.

1. Choose 4 bullets from the list on pages 88 & 89 of chapter 7 (repeat them in your posting), and explain why you believe these 4 traits, or beliefs, or mantras are true for you?
a) Teachers who create a warm and supportive classroom environment tend to be more effective with all students- I know there is a lot to learn about how to differentiate but I also believe that if the students know they are safe and if the environment is one of caring (as built through morning meetings) I will grow and learn about students naturally and will know them well enough to know how to meet their needs.
b) Effective teachers spend a great deal of time working and interacting directly with students- I know my desk will be the place that gets piled stuff on top of it and where I spend after school time but while the kids are in my class, I will be crouched by their desks. I've seen teachers very involved in what they have to get done during the day that they take little time to circulate. My goal is to be organized enough and always keep in mind the importance of the students that I am really in the moment and mindfully there with my students.
c)Effective teachers have a solid belief in their own efficacy and in holding high standards for students. This is common among relfective teachers- This applies to me because it doesn't. I know that I could get wishy-washy about my students performance and feel like, "Well of course they're not doing well... I'm not very good at what I do." No! That can't be the way it is. There must be dual ownership as we (students and I) work together to figure out how they learn best.
d) Effective teachers carefully establish classroom routines that enable them and their students to work flexibly and efficiently- This is what I was talking about in b. If we are organized in our routines then the learning will just flow! If I have a lot of things in place then I feel safe working within the organization (we all need that feeling and I'm no different from how kids need to know there are boundaries... only I'm the one creating the boundaries but then feeling safe operating within them).

2. Comment on one of the metaphors in this chapter. Explain why it makes sense to you, or why you don’t agree with it.
The main metaphors were of spaghetti and bread but I like the little one at the end, comparing this journey of becoming a teacher who differentiates as learning to ride a bicycle. I understand the theory of it but I haven't even sat on the seat yet and I am so excited to try. I am strong enough, and resilient enough to the bumps and bruises that will come. I am ready to ride!

Week #4 Reflection

1a. How is “living what [you] believe” (Fulfilling the Promise, page 26, middle of right-hand column) both difficult and easy for teachers? The Core! The core seems to demand so much from us that it would appear that we cannot focus on anything else. This must be false... we must make it false. We cannot go into teaching with these ideal views and personalities fit for the job and then just turn into ditto making drones just to get the job done. The job isn't done unless it is done with the needs of our individual students and their "needs for affirmation, contribution, power, purpose, ad challenge" in mind. I love these quotes:"With educational decision making grounded squarely in the dignity of each individual, the teacher's plans and actions radiate outward..." And, of the student's needs as a individual, "... they are not apart from curriculum and instruction, but they breathe life into it." The basic lesson plans are actually the means not the end. A perfect writing lesson will only become something worth reading when it taps into something in each student as a writer. I know it can be doable to live what you believe and can become just that... just a part of living as a teacher.

1b. How can (might, should) differentiation affect “living what you believe”?
I liked the point made by the opening quote stating that differentiation does not mean expecting less or more from certain students but expecting the best and expecting that best to continue to increase:
"Love for students just as they are-without any drive or advance toward a future-is false love, enervating and disabling."
I loved that use of the word "disabling." Sometimes we think of the need to differentiate as arising from some type of disability on the part of the student... not necessarily the kind covered by laws... but just a lack on their part somehow. The only thing possibly disabling is not stretching a child to reach for their best, whether that best belongs to the most advanced student or one who struggles to do simple tasks. I think that if we focus, as teachers, not on producing 30 of the same product but 1 each of 30 different types of product (considering the varied talents and abilities in each child) then we'll feel the pressure lift and enjoy helping students try hard. Oh to not have to think about standards and "grade level" appropriate activities but "individual level" appropriate activities! Wouldn't that be the life!

1c. From chapter 4, explain what Tomlinson mean when she suggests that a teacher, early and often, should say to students, “Let’s figure this out together. Let’s make this our class.”
Our classroom management reading this week actually also addressed this. It described different types of teacher authority and the traditional one was examined as one where students do what they are told because, "I'm the teacher and I said so." Another was the beuracratic method which involved student input on their goals. I think also, that if a student (or any human being) sees another as a team member, then there is no reason to become defensive, to hide actions, to worry about judgement, etc. The "We'll do this together" mentality I think can help foster the safe place where students feel free to try new things, even if it might mean making a mistake.