After reading the assigned reading(s) from the text, post a comment below to share your understanding of the material, and make a personal connection. (Both components are required).
Your comment may be conversational (not formal, as in an academic paper or APA style document), yet you should follow the conventions of standard English as well as reflect the professionalism and scholarship that is appropriate in a graduate level class.
You may want to revisit the blog as other students post their comments, and add to or question your colleagues. This discourse (even electronically) will be the foundation of our understanding of how this (course) material is an integral part of being a professional educator.
Please post your name or "username" so that others may address you and your comments.
Your comment may be conversational (not formal, as in an academic paper or APA style document), yet you should follow the conventions of standard English as well as reflect the professionalism and scholarship that is appropriate in a graduate level class.
You may want to revisit the blog as other students post their comments, and add to or question your colleagues. This discourse (even electronically) will be the foundation of our understanding of how this (course) material is an integral part of being a professional educator.
Please post your name or "username" so that others may address you and your comments.
After reading the assigned readings, there are many similarities between the two books aside from the important theme of differentiated instruction. Throughout both of the books, the authors’ addressed that even once teachers have become official teachers, the process of learning still continues. I cannot speak for my classmates, but I can say that as a future educator I have learned more by teaching students than I did as a student. I can also say that the first hand experiences I had as an undergrad at Nazareth taught me about the importance of continuously learning as a teacher and how my willingness to learn, and grow, effects how successful I will be as an educator.
ReplyDeleteAnother important issue addressed in both of the books is it is not only important what we teach as educators, but who and how we teach it. Any logical teacher can tell you that teaching is more than teaching content or meeting state standards. It is about getting to know your students, their backgrounds, their interests, and creating lessons that engage students in ways that they can make connections to their learning, while making it meaningful, and useful. For example I have been in three different fourth grade classrooms, all of which had to be taught the same curriculum and meet the same standards. However, the way they were taught was different. Teaching about geography such as farming or about the Civil Rights Movement means something different to students who attend urban schools compared to those who attend suburban or rural schools. This is just one example of who you teach and how you teach is important.
ReplyDeleteAnother example I have is during my second placement of student teaching. I was a sixth grade special education teacher who had students who were still learning developmentally at a fourth grade level. I had to learn how to modify and differentiate for my students so that they were learning sixth grade content, but in a way they could understand it developmentally, while continuing to grow as individuals, and successfully meeting my students’ needs. Instead of giving students a worksheet for practice about fractions and equations, I gave them manipulatives (cubes) so they could visualize the equations, and move pieces to solve problems.
ReplyDeleteA third and last example I have is a lesson I did with my fourth grade students on Native Americans. It was a lesson that was done towards the end of the unit so the students had more than enough background knowledge on the Native Americans. The lesson was on the Iroquois Confederacy and the role of the Grand Council. The goal and point of the lesson was for the students to learn how Native Americans resolved problems and what roles individuals played during that time period, and then later discuss how it was similar to the U.S. Constitution. Students were broken up into groups based on the nations and were given a problem. Each group had a chief and clan mother that played a specific role in resolving the problem. When the groups could not reach an agreement they attended a grand council meeting where a decision was to be made. Without going into great detail about the lesson, the students played the roles of early Native Americans and by the end of it students were able to discuss the similarities, and differences between the Iroquois Confederacy, and U.S. Constitution. Throughout the lesson students were engaged and until this day whenever I go to visit the students always say Ms Bloom remember when we did our Native American skit? This just further proves my point that who we teach and how we teach is just as important if not more than the content being taught.
ReplyDeleteIn addition to discussing who we teach and how we teach as being just as important as what we teach, this brings my attention to students needs. A large part of getting to know our students implies that we know them well enough to instruct in ways that are meaningful to them. However, before I or any teacher can do that, a sense of community must be built for students to feel welcomed and accepted to learn. According to Tomlinson students look for affirmation, affiliation, accomplishment, and autonomy upon entering the classroom, which are all important to fulfilling the basic human needs. When I read this it reminded me of Erwin’s book The Classroom of Choice, which I read as an undergrad. In the book Erwin addresses Choice Theory which was developed by Glasser, who identified the basic human needs as survival, love and belonging, power, freedom, and fun. More importantly it recognizes that a student’s behavior and the cause of it may be the result of one of the basic needs not being met. In addition, during my first placement of student teaching I did an activity/ice breaker with my fourth grade students based on the five basic human needs. I gave each student a brown paper bag and asked them to put in the bag pictures or things that represented their needs being met. It was a great way to have the students and I introduce ourselves, while addressing that although we all have needs, how they are met may be different.
ReplyDeleteLastly, since teachers are continuously learning themselves and are only human, it is reasonable to conclude that they too make mistakes along the way. Therefore it is also important to reflect on teaching experiences, which was also discussed in the book Fulfilling the Promise of the Differentiated Classroom. If Nazareth College has taught me anything, it is the importance of reflection. Although reflection may appear simple, it is something that takes time in order to be effective and helpful. Something that I have found helpful when teaching, is at the end of a lesson I give my students an index card and ask them to write on one side one thing they learned. On the other side, I ask my students to write one thing they liked about the lesson and one thing they did not. This way I can receive feedback about how to improve for future lessons, whether or not I am gearing instruction towards a particular learning style and if students got the point of a lesson or not. I have also asked students to be anonymous. I have found that students are less hesitant to write how they really feel, while I receive more forthcoming feedback about what I could do differently as a teacher.
ReplyDeleteThese are just a few of the connections and key points that I took from the readings. I look forward to hearing from classmates and seeing what else everyone has to say. I am also curious to hear about the types of experiences everyone has had in the classroom(s).
~ Jen B (above all comments are from me, needed to break down in order to post)
As Jen stated above, both of the books had similar ideas. Although I learned about differentiation in my undergraduate classes, I am excited to delve into the idea deeper in this semester. I love that the 'Integrating' book stated that in order to run a successful learning environment, there needs to be both a powerful curriculum and differentiation of that curriculum. The curriculum can be amazing, but if it is not taught in a way that makes sense to everyone, it can be completely useless. I experienced a strong curriculum with a lack of differentiation in my first student teaching placement, and it was terrible. Only half of the students understood the material, and the other half of the class suffered. I liked how the 'Integrating' book gave an overview of how the instruction and curriculum worked together and provided many different examples of differentiation.
ReplyDeleteThe 'Integrating' book spoke a lot about what I believe is the sole focus and purpose of education: students. The second chapter really spoke to what I believe should be true of all teachers. We do need to be role models for students. My first student teaching CT was not a good model and always had a negative attitude. This reflected poorly on the students' outlook on school. Learning was not fun in this classroom because the teacher did not treat the students with respect. I will not let myself be a poor role model.
The idea that students need to feel comfortable in the classroom is a point that cannot be stressed enough in the field of education. Students will not be able to reach their full potential if they are not at ease in school. I have subbed in a couple different classrooms where there have been one or two students that were completely uncomfortable with their surroundings. The students were not able to function, and eventually shut down during the activities. Building relationships and a safe learning environment are the first things to be done in the beginning of the year.
I have been in several classrooms where the purpose for learning has not been clearly stated. 'Because we have to learn it' is not an appropriate answer to give students. If I had been given a purpose for learning trigonometry, maybe I would've tried a little harder. Passing a state exam at the end of the year also does not motivate kids. Learning is meant o be fun and excited, so in order to fulfill the students' needs, the learning needs to be important to them. Challenge students in math with something related to their interests. Take a poll in English to see what genres of books students are interested in, instead of forcing them to read books they hate. Not only will this power of choice spark their interest, but it can also be challenging, meaningful and make them feel as though they have a part in the decision-making process.
The way the educational system is right now is very black and white. By taking a closer look at what children are interested in, we can determine how to teach them as individuals, not as a giant group. We need to make the education world a little more interesting and colorful, but we are not going to do it until we get to know our students on an individual level. Differentiation takes a lot of work, but with practice it will become second nature.
-Allie Lunt
I would agree with you Jen that many sections of the different texts were interwoven in theory and practice. I also found that the content seemed appropriate to what we were introduced to in undergraduate classes as differentiation. I knew it was a means to teach to the individual student with specific needs, but the process of implementing a solid differentiated curriculum was overwhelming. The UBD and DI models that Tomlinson and McTighe refer to, seem to be emblematic of what many teachers already practice: teaching a curriculum devised from set standards and presenting in a way that is obtainable to their students. As you said Jen, teaching is about getting to know the students we have; when we know our students we can tailor the curriculum to fit their individual learning.
ReplyDeleteWhile in my first grade student teaching placement, I was shown what differentiation looked like by my cooperating teacher. We had a writing project that was paired with a prewriting graph. It was our goal to get our students to organization their thoughts before writing. For some students we had five blocked sections symbolizing five ideas within a paragraph, for some we had three blocked sections. In attempt to reach the zone of proximal development with each of our students, we varied the amount of work that was asked while still keeping the same requirements. This was effective in allowing all of our students TIME to finish the project but not the necessary prompts that some of the students needed to generate appropriate responses. This misdiagnosis leads nicely into Tomlinson’s idea of responsive teaching.
When we are being responsive teachers we are not only reacting to our students, but we are making choices that ultimately impact their learning experience. In my experience we made a choice that would build student confidence and accomplishment. The quality of the work however couldn’t accurately be assessed because some of the students were lacking the necessary aids to build their writing skills. This just goes to show that as teachers we have difficult choices to make; is it a time extension that a student needs or is it a reading specialist? We must know our students and their abilities in order to fulfill our role as educators.
* Leah Hilliard
Allie I agree with you when you said that differentiation is an important part of the curriculum and meeting the needs of our students. You also made a good point that with the more experience we have in the classroom differentiating instruction becomes more embedded and natural in our teaching practices. When you think about differentiation it seems logical and simple, but application of good differentiated instruction comes with experience and getting to know your students as Leah pointed out. Allie I also agree with what you said about building a classroom environment that feels safe for students to learn and Leah as you previously pointed out responsive teaching is also necessary. Think about the lessons that we now look back on and say to ourselves I could have done that differently. Or the other lessons where in the middle of the lesson you can see students are becoming frustrated and how your teaching is not working so you had to think on the spot to address students’ needs while continuing to teach.
ReplyDelete~Jen Bloom
Leah I think you are completely on spot when you comment that “the content [of the texts] seemed appropriate to what we were introduced to in undergraduate classes as differentiation.” As an undergrad, differentiation was drilled into our minds in every inclusive education class. However, “understanding by design” was a new phrase to me, thus I was curious to discover what it was about. Any effective educator must at least focus on the four elements Tomlinson and McTighe delineate (the students, the learning environment, the content, and the instruction) in order to maximize student success. After reading about the logic behind combining UbD and DI, which Tomlinson and McTighe discuss, I do see how they perfectly complement each other, like pieces in a puzzle. While UbD addresses mostly content and instruction, DI concerns mostly the students and their learning environment--focusing in on the four essential elements stated above. In line with Leah, I do believe that many teachers already practice an integration of these two models. After observing my father, who has been teaching for 15 years now, I can see that he fully integrates these two models. Yet, I decided to ask him if he knew the two terms “differentiation” and “understanding by design.” After talking to him for about an hour about differentiation, it was quite evident that he was very knowledgeable in that area. However, he said he’d never heard of the phrase “understanding by design.” I showed him our textbook, and after he read about it he realized that we were talking about both DI and UbD under the label of “differentiation.”
ReplyDeleteAs Jen and Leah point out, multiple sections of both texts are very complementary.
ReplyDeleteI like how the different texts each point out that DI and UbD are a way of teaching, not something you do one day and not the next. Yet, as undergraduates we were always taught that we were to differentiate content, process, and product via readiness, interest, and learning profile. Yet, “Fulfilling the Promise of the Differentiated Classroom” added one more classroom element and one more student trait--learning environment and student affect. Again, I believe that those educated about the differentiated classroom already practice with these two extra elements in mind, they just aren’t always named.
Similar to Jen, Tomlinson reminded me of Erwin’s text “The Classroom of Choice,” when she discussed what the student seeks in the classroom. Jen already detailed how the theories are linked, so I won’t again. However, I will provide an example of one way in which I meet my students’ basic needs when I first meet them. At my practicum placement and both of my student teaching placements I presented my students with a book titled “All About Me.” It is a book that I created and designed myself that depicts all aspects of my life: my family, my friends, my favorite foods, my favorite vacation destinations, where I go to school, etc. This book makes me more “real” and personable to the students. After I read it to them, I am no longer just Ms. Cummings, one more teacher in the classroom, I am Ms. Cummings a person with a real life that may or may not be similar to theirs. I found that my second graders, my fourth graders, and even my ninth graders loved it! After presenting my book to the students they are given the opportunity to create their own “All About Me” posters, which they then share with the class and with me. I’ve found that this is an enjoyable way to get know your students and for them to get to know you, while as an educator you meet their basic needs for survival, love and belonging, power, freedom, and fun.
One last thing I want to touch upon is the metaphor of “taming the fox.” One idea that truly stood out to me was that in order to teach responsively one must understand that she is educating human beings. Sometimes, I think that even the best of the best forget this. All of our students have a past, a present, and a future--they are all unique individuals who deserve our upmost care and respect.
ReplyDeleteIn line with this idea, each text did an excellent job delineating the importance of fully understanding one’s students, which reminded me of something my second student teaching CT taught me. In this placement, I was in a 9th grade Life Skills classroom. My CT here would not listen to the “horror” stories the students’ previous teachers apparently had about them. Instead, she taught me that it was most important to get to know the students yourself. Listening to stories and rumors about students taint their image before you even meet them. This was particularly true of one of our students, I’ll call him John. John would never take off his backpack or his jacket in the classroom, he wanted to take everything home from school with him, would sometimes steal items, and wouldn’t socialize with any of his peers or his teachers. His previous teachers had told us that he used to throw desks across the classroom and have severe melt downs, which was why, they said, he was placed in our class. Well, after slowly getting to know John, my CT and I discovered that he had been moving from school district to school district ever since he was five years old, his father was completely out of the picture, and his family was just barely making ends meet. This explained why he took his belongings everywhere he went, stole things, and didn’t take the time to get to know anybody--he thought he’d be up and gone within a few weeks. Fortunately, John did stay in our classroom and each and everyday we made it our goal to show him how much we cared about him--our efforts paid off. I just went to visit John and his classmates two weeks ago and he actually came up, gave me hug, and started talking to me about the drum pad I had given him. If we didn’t take the time to get to know and completely understand him, it would have been detrimental.
Thus, being a responsive teacher focuses not only on the students’ academic needs and abilities, but their complete personal backgrounds as well. When educators teach responsively they are attuned to the full student and are better able to motivate, engage, and construct those crucial connections between learners and their learning environment.
It's interesting to read all of the personal stories everyone has from student teaching as well as other teaching opportunities. It seems like there have been many undergraduate experiences studying DI and UbD. My background is in Music Education. The teaching situation is very different than that of a classroom teacher, and we never really discussed these topics in undergrad classes. The most I can really relate to differentiated instruction is that as an instrumental music teacher, we have the capability to separate students into lesson groups solely based on their personal needs. For example, in my middle school student teaching placement we had a student who seemed to be progressing at a much faster rate than the rest of his lesson group. He was more involved in the ensembles and driven to succeed, while the other students lacked effort. We worked with the students who were struggling to determine what was causing their lack of commitment. It was clear however that the one boy needed to be moved to a group that would better suit his needs. I have subbed for my cooperating teacher several times since then, and both the boys who were struggling as well as the one who moved up a group seem to be progressing at a faster rate. The balance was fixed by the shift we made.
ReplyDeleteI realize that because these topics are very new ideas for me to study, I am going to need to gain many more experiences in order to develop the skills needed. As Allie said earlier, differentiation becomes more second nature over time. It is helpful for me to read everyone’s personal stories of classroom experiences addressing the variety of needs of students. Ashley, I love the idea of creating a book about yourself to present to your students. It is a great way to begin the school year and let everyone get to know each other. It also really helps the students get to know you as a person rather than just by your name and appearance.
Both of these books address the variety of needs of students, and the necessity to balance them through differentiated instruction. Chapter 2 in Tomlinson's book breaks down some differences that might be possible barriers to achievement. This was helpful for me to read. It makes me think back to those students who were struggling in the lesson group. What possible outside barriers besides the lesson grouping could have been causing them to struggle? I wish I could have read this book prior to teaching at that placement!
I really liked the irony in the Taming of the Fox. The Prince is the one who ends up taming the fox and commits to him for life. It is the fox however who teaches the Little Prince what taming him would mean. He gives him those who important truths that the Prince finds true to his future. It’s interesting that the Prince serves as the “teacher,” yet the fox is essentially just as much a teacher as the Prince. The roles of teacher and learner apply to both characters. It is the same with a classroom of students and their teacher. The teacher always continues to learn from the students. I think this idea is important to let the students know as well, this way they feel more involved in the learning process.
I look forward to progressing through the books we are reading and gaining more experience with these methods.
As many of my classmates have pointed out, the two texts complement each other well. Both Integrating Differentiated Instruction and Understanding by Design and Fulfilling the Promise of the Differentiated Classroom address the need of providing students with instruction that meets their needs. However, I believe that the textbooks provide different backgrounds on the subject. For example, DI and UbD begins by outlining how closely the axioms, or fundamental principles of Understanding by Design, and corollaries, the ways in which differentiated instruction works to help each student reach the axioms, are intertwined. Reading this section of the textbook reminded me of my first student teaching placement where I taught second graders. Although all of the students in the class were considered to be typically developing, there was a very wide range of skills across each academic area. As a result, I often needed to provide support to students who were challenged to meet the lesson’s objective and extension work to provide an opportunity for students at a higher level to expand their thinking. Sometimes, I addressed students’ differing needs by giving them different problem sets or working with different groupings of students. Reading the blogs, it is interesting to hear how some of my classmates differentiated when they were teaching. For example, I never thought to use time as a means of differentiation as Leah mentioned in her post. Just as Tomlinson and McTighe emphasize in the textbook, curriculum design is not beneficial for students unless there are provisions for helping students to connect with the material at their level.
ReplyDeleteIn the second chapter of DI and UbD, Tomlinson and McTighe speak to the idea that two elements central to teaching are “what we ought to teach” and “whom we teach”. For a teacher to be able to teach responsively, they must keep these two factors in mind. After reading this statement, I paused to think about teachers I have had in the past. Looking back on elementary school, I specifically remember my third grade teacher taking a special interest in each of her students to get to know them as individuals. This helped me to be able to connect with her unlike any teacher I had before her. Since she took the time to get to know me as an individual, I remember feeling more willing to connect myself to the content that she was teaching us. Instead of feeling overwhelmed by content that I previously found difficult, I trusted that she would help me to succeed. Looking back on my experience in third grade, I am sure that my teacher thought a great deal about planning and differentiating what she “ought to teach” and whom she was teaching.
My experience with my third grade teacher also reminded me of Tomlinson’s connection to The Little Prince in the first chapter of “Fulfilling the Promise”. Simply put, the author describes the process of taming as “establish[ing] ties”. Once I felt a connection with my teacher, I was more invested in the lessons she planned and the curriculum she was “inviting” me to study, and thus put forth more effort. I also agree with what Ashley commented about taming the fox with her statement, “All of our students have a past, a present, and a future--they are all unique individuals who deserve our upmost care and respect.” Without respecting and getting to know our students as a whole, we cannot form relationships with them that are conducive to helping us to meet their needs through differentiation.
ReplyDeleteFrom a teacher’s perspective, I strongly believe in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, as Tomlinson mentions in chapter two. On page 15 of “Fulfilling the Promise”, the author states, “[student] emotions trump learning. If a child feels unsafe, threatened, or insecure, the brain blocks off the pathways to learning and attends to the more basic human needs instead.” In my second student teaching placement, one student began acting out in class and refused to engage in the learning activities. Although her actions were frustrating, I took the time to pull her aside and found out that she was very nervous about moving into a new house with her family. We sat down to discuss some of her fears about making new friends and getting adjusted to the new environment. After the conversation, the student began acting more respectful and attentive almost immediately. Even though I could not be there for her outside of the school as she had to move all of her belongings, I believe that she began to act differently because her emotional needs were met since she still felt safe and a sense of belonging in the classroom.
As the course progresses, I look forward to learning more about meeting students’ needs through differentiation.
Alyssa Mulheron Part ONE
ReplyDeleteI found the explanations of Understanding by Design and Differentiated Instruction to be somewhat self-explanatory and repetitive, but I think this is because throughout my undergraduate work at Nazareth, I have developed the ability to use these approaches in my teaching naturally. The introduction of these two approaches that I found provoking was how that if used together, they “provide structures, tools, and guidance for developing curriculum and instruction based on current best understands of teaching and learning” (pg. 3). I thought this was interesting because although the approaches may be natural to my teaching, the use of them together made the different parts blend together. The different scenarios also helped explain this for me and linked the two very well. The stories helped me relate what I was reading to scenarios and experiences I have had within my student teaching experiences in first grade and at the middle school level with special ed, similar to what everyone is sharing.
Part TWO
ReplyDeleteOne thing that stood out to me in this reading was the two characters that professionals in any field are distinguished by. The two characters are, one that “they act on the most current knowledge that defines the field,” and also that “they are client centered and adapt to meet the needs of individuals” (pg. 11). This was interesting because for the first time it linked the profession of teaching to other professions. I believe this is a significant statement for the teaching profession because of all the scrutiny teaching takes on from others who partake in other professions. It places teaching on the same level as other professions and characteristics to be a distinguished professional are equal.
Part THREE
ReplyDeleteAnother part that was important to me in this reading is the fact that “it is the differences young people bring to school with them that shape how they come to see themselves in the context of curriculum and school” (pg. 17). I believe this is true due to the experiences I had throughout my student teaching and my experiences within schools. Each child brings in different background knowledge and experiences that have previously shaped their life and made them who they are. These factors do influence their learning and how they see themselves in school and the curriculum, positively or negatively.
I believe it is crucial that a teacher can understand their students with the intent of maximizing learning of each student in the class. The experiences I gained throughout student teaching and observing assisted me and made it much easier to accept student differences and embrace it. The story of The Little Prince and the relation to taming children in a classroom so they can reach their full potential, like several others in the class so far, was a significant story (pg. 9). I agree with the idea that students need to be able to trust you and all with do this at a different rate. A teacher must find a way to do this with every child in their classroom in order to reach each student. This is a story that I believe will stick with me throughout the next few years and maybe my whole career as a teacher. This information and chapter was very significant because it explained what a teacher needs to do to respond to the different needs of children. Throughout my education so far, I have had to focus on mostly students and their needs, and not what a teacher can do exactly to assist in making a classroom differentiated. One quote that stuck out to me is that teachers are “remarkable because they live what they believe” (pg. 26). I think that this is a very important statement because if one does not believe in what they are teaching, they cannot do it to their fullest potential. For a classroom to be differentiated at the best of its ability, a teacher needs to believe in what they are doing to be successful.
Alyssa, I like how you brought up the idea of comparing education to other professions! I completely agree with what you said about the "scrutiny teaching takes on from others..." From what I have experienced, it is evident that some people do not view teaching as a profession or teachers as professionals. However, no matter what others think as educators we must always act professionally. I do believe that one component of "acting professionally" concerns the idea that one is never done learning, whether she is a teacher of 1 year or 50 years. As educators, we know that every single student that walks through our door brings with them different abilities, needs, backgrounds, interests, etc. Thus, we must be on our toes and continue to develop our knowledge of the profession in order to maximize student learning in our classrooms! In this way we " act on the most current knowledge that defines the field" and are "client-centered...[adapting] to meet the needs of individuals"--the marks or a true professional (p.11).
ReplyDeleteIn regards to the previous posts, it seems unanimous that there are strong ties with both readings from the assigned chapters. Differentiation, and the idea that teaching in itself is a revolving door for personal learning, which seemed to have had the most prominent significance to me. I agree with what Allie said “curriculum can be amazing, but if it not taught in a way that makes sense to everyone it can be completely useless”. One of the strongest components in my personal pedagogy is differentiating instruction and to see the whole child. I feel that both Tomlinson and McTighe respectively have explained the significance of these ideas, and I am excited to read further to expand my personal understanding of what differentiating can mean.
ReplyDeleteOne quote from UbD and D.I was that “differentiated instruction is a way of thinking, not a formula or recipe”, which had an impact on me (10). One reason that I felt strongly about that statement is that Nazareth has aided me in trying to think outside of the box. This made me think of a video clip from a teacher in New York City who wrote a four-digit number on the board in a square. She had then asked the students to tell her what those numbers signified. As the students went over their answers she began to explain to them that there are “more than one way to skin a cat”. That way of thinking shows that there is not one way to teach students or to reach them, educators need to constantly look at new ways and reinvent ideas to better fit there particular group of students. When educating it is crucial to understand that there is no right formula to teach curriculum each year. Students all learn the differently, due to background, intelligence level, race, etc. Therefore it is the teachers’ responsibility to continuously reflect and to think of new ways to reach their students. Another personal example of this is in one of my student teaching placements. I was in an urban school, fourth grade Inclusive classroom trying to teach students about place value. Initially believing this would be a simple task, I myself struggled with how to teach the students when I realized they were struggling to grasp the concept. Working with another teacher we co-created a lesson that involved a lot of visual and kinesthetic learning, with great success. The results of this lesson plan allotted time for professional reflection, realizing the actual impact differentiating instruction can have.
Tomlinson also pointed out something that I feel can at times be lost with the amount of stress educators can have, which is these children are people before they are students. Many times there is a rush to meet district standards and to do well on state testing that students are treated as if the are machines, which is not a productive way to reach students. In Fulfilling the Promise of the Differentiated Classroom chapter two discusses Abraham Maslow, who is known for his “Hierarchy of Needs” pyramid. The author states, “until a human has basic human needs attended to…energies cannot go to learning” (15). In my time working with professional educators I have seen the high importance of this, as well as the complete dismissal of this ideal. Allowing myself to see both sides of the spectrum has allowed me to see how beneficial it is to meet these students’ needs, especially to gain a sense of community in the classroom. A strong example that I will hold forever is again in one of my placements. There was a sixth grade student who was always agitated, refused to do work, and lashed out at his peers. My teacher began to record his actions in class, and decided to sit down with him during lunch. He had told her how he wasn’t getting much sleep, but everything was fine. The teacher went ahead and made a visit to his home to find out there were many children living there and that they had very little. What the teacher did next was visit a local church and had a bed, rocking chair, and a large amount of children’s clothes donated to her. The next day she went to the home and delivered them to the family. The student had changed immediately; it was obvious that his personal life was taking a tremendous toll on his education. This is why I feel that it is very important to look at the students and to build relationships with them to see if the have needs that are met.
ReplyDeleteLastly. I would just like to touch base on what Alyssa and Ashley discussed on comparing education to other professions. This has been something that has always deeply perplexed me because without education, where would society be? I agree with what Ashley said about how although others may not think that educators are professionals, we still need to act professional. I have encountered many of the jokes that the reason I chose this profession is for the summers off and how anyone can baby-sit children. Yet as aggravating as this can be, knowing that as we learn more and continue to educate ourselves discussions and readings that we will have the potential to reach a lot of little scholars.
-Nicolina (I forgot to mention the above is with this post as well!)
Nicolina, I found what you said about the student in your class who was not performing to her potential because of tiredness to be very interesting. I think that it helps to emphasize the idea that as teachers, we must serve as mentors as well as guardians for the students in our class. The most remarkable teachers go beyond providing for their students' educational needs in the classroom to being a source of support for their personal lives as well. I find it to be very inspiring to look at how these teachers have shaped the lives of so many students.
ReplyDeleteI think that both of these books reiterate the importance of differentiation in the classroom, as well as the importance of learning environment. I think that teachers don’t spend enough time differentiating lessons and making the learning environment in the classroom fun for students. I know that getting my undergraduate degree from Naz I have already spent a ton of time working on differentiation and when I become a teacher I will definitely make sure that my lessons meet the need of every student in my classroom.
ReplyDeleteWhile reading The Little Princess I was reminded of one of my student teaching placement. Teachers are too often afraid of failure. However as a teacher I think that you need to be open to certain kinds of failure. One of my teachers while student teaching was afraid that she would not be able to make a connection with one of her students. After a few weeks of trying and failing she decided to give up trying and that it was a lost cause. Then a few weeks later the student finally opened up to one of the other teachers in the classroom. I think that if the other teacher had taken the time and not given up she too would have had a connection with the student.
I believe that it is important for teachers to constantly take notes about what is going on in the classroom. By doing this teachers can learn from their successes and failures so that the next time they teach the same lesson or come across the same situation they can handle it in a different or the same manor. Teachers too often forget that their students are not just learning from them but they are also learning from their students.
Among all of the chapters I connect the most with chapter two from “Fulfilling the Promise of the Differentiated Classroom”. I strongly agree that teachers and students have the same worries. The hardest question I have ever had to answer is the how come question. I don’t think that I have heard a response that was truly satisfying to the student and made them feel like what they were leaning was making a difference. Another important part to differentiation that was discussed in chapter two was to challenge all of students and to find a way to challenge them that works for them. During one of my student teaching placements I had a student who would cry every time that I challenged her and after a while I learned that the crying was all worth it because seeing the smile and excitement on her face after she understood what I was trying to teach made the struggle all worth it.
The most important part of being a teacher and effectively being able to differentiate in the classroom is truly getting to know each and every one of your students. Once you get to know who your student are and how they learn you can find appropriate way to teach them in ways the will make them successful students and children. We need to know that we may not get it right on the first or second try but if we keep on trying and learning from our success and failure we will be successful in our teaching.
Katie McCarthy
As I read through both texts assigned, I felt similar to Alyssa and Nikki. Because differentiation is something we so frequently emphasized and discussed on our undergraduate experience at Nazareth, it became an essential part of my own teaching and was something that was not as much thought about but just done. In my mind, there is no question of whether or not I'll take the time to differentiate lessons, during planning or the actual process of instruction, it is something that has been built into my own teaching due to the importance it has been given during our undergraduate courses at Nazareth.
ReplyDeleteThere was a lot in the reading that I both enjoyed and related to. As Nikki touched on, the chapters covered viewing our students as individuals as a vital aspect of differentiation and building relationships. Only after we get to know each student personally will we be able to differentiate learning to best fit the needs and strengths of our students. Also, building trusting relationships is necessary for students to open up and put effort into their learning. They will be able to see that we are there, as teachers, to support them and their learning and care about their growth.
One thing that impressed me about this reading was that despite how the idea of differentiation may seem simplistic to those of us who have taken education classes at Nazareth before, this reading can be and should be applied by all those in field of education. While there are 10 of us in the same graduate program, we have different concentrations and different goals for our future as educators. Just thinking of the students in this class and in this program with me, I can envision a few years from now an amazing math teacher perhaps at a middle school level, a fulfilled primary teacher who amazes others (myself included) by her ability to exhibit the patience and understanding needed to work with small children, a teacher in the field of special education whose efforts to fight for more support for her students is just one of the many ways she is great at what she does, and perhaps even an administrator somewhere trying to make improvements and needed challenges. Before I continue to ramble on and on about the possible futures I see for each of my fellow students, I'll get to my point and say that the information in these texts about scaffolding, support, and differentiation for all learning types is the kind of knowledge and application that will be useful to all of us.
Secondly, I fell in love with the section of Fulfilling the Promise of the Differentiated Classroom where it says that differentiated instruction is responsive instruction. In my notes on the reading I put about twenty exclamation points and five hearts by this comparison. It in fact is one of the sayings that guides my teaching philosophy. While it seems so simple, "responsive instruction," it is loaded in responsibility to base our education and our interventions on each individual student. Learning is an input/output relationship. What we put in as teachers, alongside the individual efforts of our students will yield various outputs based on our approach. We need to always remember the student as a person and how our specific teaching, response to their questions, or efforts at building a relationship will be perceived by the student. I could see this first hand in the 12-1-1 class I was fortunate to student teach in. The students each had extremely different strengths and weaknesses. It was so important to plan lessons for each student, remembering that lumping them together as sixth grade students with learning disabilities was not enough. We took the time to break the class into small learning groups and utilized the many professionals in the classroom to teach the students at the appropriate level. After this experience I could see that teaching is a 24 hour job; one that just anybody could not succeed at.
ReplyDeleteThirdly, I enjoyed the section on Taming the Fox. I liked the connection between the lasting bond between students and teachers but also saw a different interpretation of the story. The text contained the truth, "you become responsible forever for what you have tamed." I couldn't help but apply this moral to a broader sense... that of taming knowledge. As we acquire (or tame) knowledge we go through an extensive process where before the knowledge becomes a part of us and truly understood, we first need to trust it. Once we have tamed the knowledge it sticks with us for life. It is then our responsibility to choose how we will use such knowledge. Will we just forget about it, or recite it from time to time to show our intellect? Or does it drive our actions and become a part of our lives? To bring this run on thought back to the reason we are all taking this class I will connect it back to the pedagogy and philosophies we have learned about here at Nazareth College. Will we allow the things we have learned to change our teaching or will we just keep the knowledge of differentiation, etc be something that we value but do not apply?
Fourthly, I appreciated the Cogs of Differentiation. They truly highlight how essential each individual component and relationship in a classroom is. The teacher, student, curriculum, and classroom vibe each have an important role and purpose that work together to make the whole classroom run smoothly. From time to time you see one of the teachers who have sadly become absorbed in the statistics of teaching and forgets about the students individual importance in the classroom or even the teacher's role of building trust and facilitating whole-child growth. We need to remain active in our purpose of education to keep all the gears moving in unison.
Fifthly, the connection to Maslow brought back fond memories from my practicum experience. We had a student, who I'll call Natalie, who had severe emotional problems. She was the student who would throw a chair at you simply if you called on her to answer a question she did not know the answer to. The amazing thing about Natalie was that despite the fact that she was a volitile ball of repressed feelings, she responded to direct, firm, and honest intervention. There were however the times we couldn’t intervene in time when Natalie would explode, getting her hurt emotions out of her system, only to act like nothing happened. In fact, we once saw her steal another student's snack and when we walked toward her to confront her about it, she ran down the hall shrieking at the top of her lungs, banging on the lockers, finally she slumped her way back to the classroom, sat down and raised her hand to ask if she could please have a drink of water. There was never a dull moment. Long story short, the text made reference to Maslow's belief that children must feel safe and a sense of belonging to learn. This was most definitely true of Natalie. By the end of the year, she had realized our genuine care for her and gained respect for us and responded not only to our interventions of her behavior but also to our instruction. I recently had lunch with Eryne, the teacher I was with for practicum and the experience of Natalie and she told me that she went back to Ontario Elementary for a conference and ran into Natalie who was then a fifth grader with a new, very kind, soft spoken teacher. Natalie was red in the face and growling as she trailed her classmates at the end of the line. The new teacher tried her best to be gentile with Natalie and coax her to stop growling (afraid that Natalie would snap at her), it wasn't until Eryne intervened by saying loudly and boldly, "Natalie! Knock it off! Act your age!", that Natalie stopped growling, caught up with the other students, and acted perfectly cooperative. It makes me laugh to think of what the new teacher's reaction must have been to Eryne's approach. While harsh, it was just what Natalie needed to thrive--tough love. Eryne took the time to get to know Natalie and her quirks to know what type of intervention worked for her and which only enhanced the explosions. It is definitely vital to get to know our students and show them we are making the effort so that they feel a sense of belonging in our class.
ReplyDeleteFinally, I was impressed by the statement from Barbara Kingsolver: "The most we can do is make sure we live inside our hopes, rather than admiring them from a distance." This definitely takes much work but it's important we keep in mind the kind of teacher we want to be and strive to make every effort to become it.
After reading through these posts, it is apparent that so many of us believe in the importance of being youth-centered within our classrooms. This includes the idea that we as educators have a duty to the youth we encounter to make our classrooms a place where youth feel safe and can learn what is appropriate to them. Additionally, I believe, it is our job to do our best to keep youth engaged and motivated within school. In the beginning of chapter 1, Tomlinson notes that if a scholar has disengaged with school and academics that educators should make an active effort to help that student reconnect with learning. I am sure that most of us have come across one or more of these students during our student teaching placements and/or practicum experiences. I think differentiation and understanding by design are just two ways in which we can help ensure that our scholars build an identity that incorporates an appreciation for school and an understanding of the power that learning posses. When addressing these ideas I cannot help but think about Geneva Gay and her ideas surrounding culturally responsive teaching. Differentiation to me includes being culturally competent as well as using cultural variation as a way to differentiate. Tomlinson and McTighe stress the importance of knowing one’s scholars and being responsive educators, as did our undergraduate program. This knowledge however, is not just limited to readiness, interests, and learning profile, but also includes cultural background. We are aware that extraneous factors influence the way youth learn, behave, and feel about school. I think that if we can incorporate cultural competence into our design it will automatically become a part of our instruction.
ReplyDeleteBoth books thus far stress the importance of differentiation within the classroom and finding ways to make one’s curriculum adaptable and appropriate to all scholars. We all understand that this can be challenging, but is a necessary part of being an effective educator. I am sure that many of you will agree with me that after student teaching the necessity of differentiation within a classroom became more concrete and better understood. I was fortunate enough to have an opportunity to student teach abroad in the country of Wales. One of the aspects of the Welsh school I was in that I liked best was the way that they divided their students for class placement. The educators I worked with determined placements for math and English by skill level and age was not a factor. Both year three and year four (second and third grade) students were intermingled to meet their learning readiness. The same was true for the year five and year six students (fourth and fifth grade). Not having the boundary of age made the differentiation process a little easier on teachers, since readiness levels had been predetermined. This way of diving scholars also related to Axiom 1 of understanding by design. This Axiom states that, “The primary goal of quality curriculum design is to develop and deepen student understanding” (Tomlinson and McTighe, 2006, pp.4). Part of this axiom is that all students should benefit from the teaching curriculums he or she has exposure to. By dividing students based solely on readiness without a hindrance of age, I believe, would help ensure that youth were gaining access to curriculums appropriate to them and their learning potential.
During my other student teaching placement, I was able to learn about the struggles that many special educators have when working with inclusive educators in regards to differentiation. Some of the students in the 12:1:1 classroom that worked closely with my 8:1:1 classroom, were integrated into inclusive classrooms for various content areas during the day. The major problem that many of these youth faced was that the inclusive educators made little effort to include the youth from the 12:1:1 into their lessons. Furthermore, the inclusive educators often did not scaffold the content in an appropriate manner to these youth. The special educators found themselves trying to communicate ways in which their students could benefit more from inclusion, but their ideas were not always welcomed or used. This type of inclusion was not beneficial to any of the youth involved. This example, demonstrates that understanding by design was not a part of the curriculum used by some of the inclusive educators. Many youth were not gaining an understanding of curriculum, since their inclusive educators were not teaching for understanding. The idea of inclusion, like differentiation, is one we addressed frequently in our undergraduate program. All youth should have access to the same opportunities within their schools, inclusion helps make this possible. Inclusion cannot be effective without the use of differentiation, just as I am now learning differentiation cannot be successful without understanding by design. Understanding by design adds an aspect of professionalism necessary to education, since its focus is on curriculum, assessment, and teaching for understanding. These aspects are what educators and districts must produce in order to have state recognition for success. Although standardization can be frustrating, some type of set standard is necessary for our schools, and UbD helps fulfill standards while keeping an emphasis on what is truly important, the youth.
ReplyDeleteIt is clear that effective teaching has an emphasis on differentiation, understanding by design, and a youth-centered attitude. There is not one right way to include these aspects of education into schools, but each of us will have an understanding of the necessity of each. The beauty with teaching is that each of us will find our own ways that work of us as well as our youth, to incorporate these ideas into our classrooms.
One quote in the reading stood out to me more than any other, “Love for students just as they are-without any drive or advance toward a future-is a false love, enervating and disabling” (Ayers, Klonsky, and Lyon, 2000). When I began the undergraduate program here at Nazareth, loving and caring for students as they were was something of great importance to me. It still is, but it took my student teaching placement and the work of an Autism Consultant to help me understand what this quote is addressing. I never realized how enabling one could be as an educator, especially when working with students that have special needs. When working with a scholar that is older than their behaviors and/or their current intellectual state demonstrates it can be easy to lose sight of what that particular child may need. For example, it would be simple to create lessons that are not truly age appropriate but appear to be. Additionally, educators may forget that although behaviors and academic performance may not be “age appropriate” social skills or social understandings may be. What I am trying to get at is that it can be easy to lose sight of a scholar’s true age, which can lead to an educator “babying” a student within their classroom or not teaching important social curriculum. During my first placement in an 8:1:1 classroom I was able to work with a phenomenal Autism Consultant and she really stressed the importance of youth learning functional skills in addition to “typical” school content, when appropriate for that child. This idea came up most when discussing the use and function of 1:1 aids within a classroom. Although she realized the benefits, she helped us realize the drawbacks. It is so important for all youth to gain a sense of independence and self-awareness, since it will be essential to their success in the “real-world”. She also emphasized the importance of understanding realistically what the future holds for some of our youth. For example, when discussing aids she made it very clear that if we enable students by using an aid he or she will most likely have a harder after leaving school, since these youth will no longer have access to 1:1 aids. She stated that something as simple as having an aid stand behind a student and not next to could create a sense of independence for that scholar. It is beneficial for all students to learn ways to function on their own, in addition to ways to manage their behavior. If we avoid challenging our youth or having high expectations for them, we avoid frustration in that moment, but our youth are not learning anything beneficial.
ReplyDeleteI was glad that Ashley brought up the metaphor “Taming the Fox,” since I too found it very interesting and insightful. One idea I took from the story that reminded me of teaching was the power both the little boy and the fox had in making their relationship work. The boy had the power to tame the fox and the fox had the power to teach the boy life lessons. This is the same within the classroom. We as educators have so much power, which we can use to benefit youth or to hinder them. We can benefit them by helping “tame” them or teach them the ways of school and of life. Additionally, we can demonstrate to youth that he or she has power within the classroom, by implementing a power-with and not a power-over model. Educators that only use power-over models can hinder their students from gaining a sense of independence as well as a sense of self worth. In the story, the fox also shares two truths with the boy one of which is that individuals become forever responsible for the things that he or she has tamed. I think this is also true of teaching. Although we cannot control what happens outside of our classrooms, all educators need to recognize the potential life-long influence he or she can have on the youth he or she encounters.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was student teaching in Wales, I was able to partake in morning meetings. These daily meetings were the first part of the day for each scholar. Every Friday the Head Master would join the year three and year four meeting and tale the youth a fable. The story “Taming the Fox” would have been perfect for one of these meetings. I think that youth could benefit from hearing this story and discussing roles within the classroom with their teacher. I would use this story in the beginning of the year, since I think it would be both a fun and interesting lesson. I really loved many of the fables that the Head Master told and the youth did as well. Incorporating them into the classroom could be highly beneficial to all youth.
Amanda, I loved how you integrated your musical background/degree to connect to the idea of differentiation. Your interpretation and application to differentiation was parallel to what we were taught in undergrad. The more I read in the Ubd text, the more I wish I had the book while we were developing lessons throughout student teaching and other undergraduate projects. I am eager to see how the transforms and extends my ability to produce successful lessons.
ReplyDeleteWhat does interest me most about Universal Design is its origin. Those of you who are taking the Assistive Technology course sorry for the repetition but I found it so cool! In our course we are discussing ways that assistive technology can benefit all students. Since Universal Design began as an architectural revolution, it seems crazy that the theory can fit so well within education. The goal was to design the most accessible buildings for the general public, regardless of their physical abilities. While we often focus on what we can give students with disabilities to aid their learning, what we really should be focusing on is what we can give each of our students to best support their unique needs. Once again we see how applicable the rest of life is to education. As Nikki pointed out, education is central to our society; it is in and among the daily interactions of people everywhere. Since it is a means to everyone’s’ growth, it seems we would focus on each student as an individual rather than a student with disabilities or a student without.
* Leah