Have you seen that commercial that’s been running on tv lately, where the spokesman asks elementary children “What’s better?” and the two choices are so clearly unequal that the question is nearly specious? It’s funny the first time you see it and then it becomes insipid, right? That’s how I am now feeling about the question about the efficacy of differentiated instruction. Which is better: 1- a situation where the teacher slaves over whole class instruction lesson plans and attempts to teach a block of eighteen to twenty-eight students simultaneously, or 2- a class centered upon the individual needs of each learner? If you are the student, or if you are that student’s parent, the question is first speciously funny and then it becomes insipid. If you’re an educator rebelling and rebutting this idea as you read this, consider this: on staff development days, do you prefer to be talked at in 45-90 minute blocks, or do you prefer to interact with your colleagues and learn the material together? I guess I’m the oddball because there is no contest between the choices.
My
empirical data is backing up that I made the right call. My spreadsheet that I
use to track benchmarks is color-coded: blood red for below basic, fire engine
red for basic, blue for proficient and green for advanced. My blood-red students have migrated from below
basic to basic and even a few catapulted to proficient and advanced proficient
scores. Many basic scoring students from the first benchmark have progressed to
proficient. Even some of my proficient students have crossed into the advanced
threshold. The second benchmark exams
were given only 2 weeks into my classroom “reinvention.” I could say that the
data only shows that I have been an effective classroom teacher. I will concede
that this may be true, but if that is all that the data is telling me, then
student scores should explode by the next benchmark this spring. Stay tuned.
I must confess
that if I were a color I would be a neon day-glow hue and the farthest from
gray. I am excited to teach my students every day. I am energized by minor
milestones, and egged along by my student’s enthusiasm. One student put it this
way in his end of the marking period reflection:
You're a good teacher but you
have the energy of a 5 year old on candy and I have to get used to that.
Guilty. My enthusiasm and energy comes from my desire to keep
my students engaged. Students can accuse me of being crazy or crazed but they
can’t call me or my class boring.
Students who have become accustomed to the sedate and measured approach
to teaching, take a while to adjust to my approach to the classroom.
I am
encouraged by the feedback I am receiving from students about how the change is
going:
1.
English is a class that I look forward to everyday because it is
fun and I like learning about English. I like the way you set up the classroom
in stations. I like it better than before because it focuses on our special
needs. I hope English stays this fun until the end of the year.
2.
My first study island of the year I received a below basic. The
second one I took recently I got an advanced. So my attitude on school changed.
I started working hard to pick up my grades and get A’s in all of my classes. I
didn’t get A’s in every class but I got all A’s and B’s.
3.
The thing I like most about English 8 is that we are separated
into groups based on our skill level. That is my favorite part of English 8
because I prefer to be in groups and be taught one on one.
4.
What I like the most about
it was that the teacher puts himself in our shoes and interacts with us instead
of just talking the whole time.
5.
I don’t want to change my English teacher I want to keep Mr. Logan
as my English teacher throughout high school I love how he teaches he’s funny
and he teaches in ways to help us. He doesn't just teach the whole class he
looks at everyone's strengths and weaknesses and goes off from there. I can actually
learn from how he teaches because I understand it; he also is fun and lets us
have fun.
I did receive some critical notes
too. Some kids told me they did not like different learning activities in
different groups but that was when I first changed the class. When I met with them
to conference, the kids told me that they see the benefit. I am satisfied that
the majority of my students have “bought into” the pedagogical shift, and that
emboldens me to carry on and go deeper with my instruction.
Do
you remember the student I mentioned in an earlier post? He had noticed that
one of my vocabulary words was using more than one of the roots that I taught
him, and his reaction to praise for this feat encouraged others to speak up and
take chances. Well, not only did he improve on his benchmarks from below basic
to basic, he also has been completing his classwork consistently. I was so
pleased with the change in him that I called his mother to tell her about the
day when he was the only one in his cohort that was prepared with his writing
piece to share on our conference date.
I
made her day. He made mine. I love positive phone calls—they are even better
when you are calling back a parent that you originally contacted with grave
concerns. The next day, my student informed me that the whole home had great
fun teasing, congratulating, and making a positive fuss over him. He made my
day again. These little moments of small triumphs that just might change a life
are what teaching is all about. To be a member of the village that impacts a
child is a powerfully rewarding feeling.
This
is my twentieth year in the classroom. I am more enthusiastic about my job now
than I was in 1993, when I started this journey. Great students, supportive
parents, accessible and supportive administration, along awesome colleagues are
a huge part of my success this year.
That’s
my story and I’m sticking to it.
