Teaching is Hard

     

         Many of you who are aspiring teachers may or may not agree with this and there are some out there that are currently teachers that may not also agree with this, but this is what I've come to realize and I'll tell you why. The last two years in the UVU Elementary Education program has been hard, but it has stretched me to grow more into the teacher that I want to become. As I've gone through all of my classes I realize that most of the things I thought about teaching were out in left field. I, like many, even Tomlinson, have thought if we care enough for our students we will be able to teach them and inspire them to want to become life long learners. Although that is part of inspiring, it's not the only things that will help us become great teachers. The classes at UVU have taught me to begin with the end in mind and really take a good hard look at what I want my students to know. There are things that I will have to teach them from the common core but even within the core it's a lot of information to cover and not all students will be able to learn everything because they will be coming into my classroom on different levels in different subject areas.
 
  Being at UVU has taught me that I need to find ways to teach my students that will keep them engaged and even give lessons where the students themselves discover the topic we are discussing. I've been so used to having people tell me what to do and how to do it that learning how to teach in my own way was hard work and still is on some subjects. UVU has provided me with an opportunity during my education to grow and love learning more than I ever thought I could. I feel like most of my experience has been differentiated by process, readiness, and interest within the program because we were able to choose what lessons we wanted to write a lesson plan for. Most of us have had some experience in a classroom and that's where our readiness is differentiated because for some there were assignments that weren't as difficult to perform. There have always been key elements within our assignments and everyone has the same assignment to turn in for a grade, but getting there has been a great discovery for me and hopefully my colleagues.

    I feel like this class has helped me the most because it has helped me recognize that there are tools around me and hallmarks that embody a wonderful, differentiation oriented teacher. This class has taught me more about empowering my students by validating them for who they are and starting from that entry point. It has taught me the importance of the word succeed. Succeeding is when you are able to reach the unreachable child that other teachers haven't been able to reach because you were willing to go the extra mile and really meet them at their level. You didn't expect them to start with the rest of the class, you wanted them to grow in THEIR best way. I love how Dr. P. said at the beginning if you can help each of your students progress a whole level from where they came into your classroom then you have succeeded at reaching your students. Also I have learned that there are so many subjects you can differentiate for if you're willing to put in the work as the teacher. It may seem a lot easier to just give everyone the same assignment so that you can grade it, but are you really seeing what Johnny can do? Have you seen how well Sally does when she fully puts her passion into drawing? Now they may not seem important to you, but to those students that is their world. It's what's driving them forward and if we as teachers take that away or diminish how unimportant those activities are then our students will never grow, they will just shut down. So many

times in Tomlinson's book I read how important it is to know who your students are because you're not just teaching subjects, you're teaching human beings that have real feelings, passions, strengths, weaknesses etc. Stop and think if you were treated like you have been treating your students how would you feel in that particular classroom? Would you feel like you're being validated for who you are? Would you feel like the teacher truly cares about you as an individual? Would you feel as though that teacher wants you to succeed for you? These thoughts do go through our students' heads. Please challenge them with individual, differentiated work that fits their personality. Sure, it takes a little more work, but let's face it, you took this job knowing that there was going to be some work involved. To be a differentiated teacher you must take into account who and what you're teaching and really make an effort to help your students realize how smart they really are with the knowledge that they already have and can build on. It's also important to have all students cheering each other on in all aspects of life and really growing together as a community. Please allow the students to share the classroom with you, you'll find they are much more willing to be accountable and responsible for their actions when they feel apart of something bigger than themselves.

       Teaching is hard work, I won't lie, but it's the kind of hard work that stretches you to really focus on what kind of teacher you want to be and how you want to help those students who walk through your classroom door. Tomlinson said: "The more willing we are to take the risks, the better the lives of our students are likely to become and the greater the fulfillment we are likely to feel at the ed of the day.

Tiering Is A Way of Differentiation

Tiering is another differentiation strategy you can use to help you in your classroom. We will always have students who are not as strong in some areas as the are in others. We may not always have the time to divide students up by their abilities, but tiering gives us the opportunity to help them more by grouping them with students who are more on their level. If we are looking at a typical classroom, most of us would agree that this picture shows a good representation of the levels of tiering we would need within our classroom. These groups respond to the students differences and allows for temporary instruction depending on how a student responds to the lessons being given within that tiered group.  The same concepts and skills are taught within each group, which is part of differentiation but the pace may be slower or faster than what students are normally projected to do. The picture below is a featured picture giving more of percentages of students and how we can respond to them before things slip through the cracks. This goes back to being proactive as  teacher and noticing the groups that are needed and how to make sure you flexibly group students who need the same concepts retaught or introduced in order to succeed within your classroom. 

 There is a handout we received that has a great quote on it that I'd like to share. It reads, "Tiered instruction is a differentiation strategy in which all students are taught the same essential concepts and skills at different levels of complexity in reponse to diagnosed needs" Sometimes I know as teachers we don't have time to have small group time for the things we want to have, but if we don't adjust ourselves and our schedules to tier for our students then we won't be able to help them at all. Every time I write one of these posts and think about how truly everything is connected and goes back to knowing your students individually it amazes me. It amazes me because we need to teach human beings/children and not just teach the subject matter and when we truly know how to tier for our students and how to group them in such a way they will be able to see that one, they are not dumb because there are other people struggling with the same things they are; two, that it's okay to need a little extra help and practice from the teacher especially if you're not understand the concepts; and three everyone learns at different paces and if you are able to move to a different tier because you simply got a little more help in small group time that's excellent and a great way for all students to share in that celebration of learning!

Here are some websites to help learn more about tiering and differentiation: 

Challenge by Choice/Tiering

Dare to Differentiate

Tiered Instruction

Tiering to Avoid Tears

Curriculum and Instruction

In Tomlinson's book she states that "curriculum and instruction is the vehicle for addressing student needs." Teachers must agree to form a bond with the student and it becomes a contract that as a teacher I hope you want to fulfill. In a previous post I talked about tools you can use to help you differentiate with because as teachers we are meant to teach! That's our job, that's what we are supposed to do. However that doesn't mean that we don't have other job descriptions that get grouped in with what a teacher actually becomes for all of his/her students. We have specific tools of our trade though and that's curriculum and instruction.
     We all know that there are things are students must be taught because we have a common core to teach from. Most, if not all states, have come up with a state core that they want their students to know based on the grade that they are in. In order to teach this curriculum to our students we must know them so that we know how to instruct them. Through all these posts I've written, are you catching the drift that it's IMPORTANT to KNOW your students?

Tomlinson goes on in this chapter stating that she had teachers that knew the curriculum well and knew the subject they needed to learn, but only one teacher took the time to teach her as a student and not just teach the subject that she knew. When we really teach to who our students are Tomlinson said: "curriculum and instruction become the medium through which the teacher shows students the power of knowledge, the power of self, and the inextricable links between the two." Isn't that powerful? Don't you want to be that kind of teacher? I know I do! I want to inspire my kids to believe in the power of knowledge that they are gaining. I want them to know that they are smart in their own way and that I will help them in whatever way possible achieve a high level of knowledge than they previously had.

We need to teach curriculum that is important, focused, engaging, demanding, and scaffolded. We know what we have to teach because curriculum has been mandated but the way you do it is up to you. You want what you are teaching to be things that students will be able to use outside of school and inside of school to build on concepts they will learn later in different grades. Also you want the instruction you give to be focused and by that I mean specific! Going back to the hallmarks you, as the teacher, need to know what you're teaching and teach with clarity. Knowing that we have to know what we are teaching also affects how we are going to teach it. We need to find everything we teach our students exciting as well, even if we are not that thrilled about it. Students can tell when teachers are unsure about what they are teaching or when they don't find the subject that exciting to learn about. We as teachers want our students to be engaged as we are teaching them. The more they are engaged, the more they actually learn! However after a while if you just have engaging "fun" work your students begin to become bored. So we have to add the element of demanding where it challenges our students in just the right way so that they are stretched to grow, but not pulled too far. Of course when keeping all of these things in mind we don't want to try and feed all of our students with a fire hose. We need to remember to scaffold for all of our students. Even the students that are more "advanced" are not going to appreciate everything being poured down their throat at once, but if we scaffold for our students on their level and allow them to be challenged with engaging work that is specifically tailored to them, you'll have some amazing turn outs! Don't forget that curriculum and instruction is the vehicle, but you're the driver and you need to do what's best for your passengers on the journey with you.

Here are some websites that can help you with curriculum and instruction:

Differentiated Instruction
Meeting Students Where They Are
Supporting Continuous Growth
One Size Does Not Fit All

R.A.F.T.s in Your Tool Box

My group got this tool box strategy to report on and I really loved that we did. When we were first discussing different aspects of this tool, we were trying to think of all the ways you could differentiate with it and there are so many ways you can! RAFT is an acronym that stands for role, audience, format, and topic.

In this strategy students take on a role, develop a product for a specific audience in a certain way on a specific topic that connects back to that role. The nice thing about this tool is that it can be completed at home or at school and that you don't always  need technology to make it succeed. The most common thing that it differentiates for, according to Tomlinson, is readiness, interest and learning profile.

My group decided to pick the topic of literacy and more importantly the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears and we developed our own raft for students to choose from. Below is the link to the RAFT we created.    RAFTS

What I loved about our RAFTS is the products were different depending on the role they took on. Processes were also different depending on what they chose to do. What I also love about RAFTs is that students don't have to stick with exactly what's written, they can come up with their own and even add to the list that teacher has already made and that's when truly learning and differentiation takes place!



Here are some websites to help you learn more about RAFTS and the ways you can use them:
RAFTS Strategy
RAFT in the Classroom
Learning Through Listening
Math RAFTS

Tool Box Strategies

So there are strategies that you can use to help with differentiating for your classroom that you should have in your "tool box". Dr. P had us each take and report on one of them. I'll talk about mine in another post because there are a lot of ways to differentiate with R.A.F.T.S. and I'll explain further what that is.

So some tools you can differentiate with are:

Pre-assessment: these strategies can be used to differentiate for interests and readiness. There are several different pre-assessment sheets you can use for students that can be as simple as smiley faces, sad faces, or indifferent faces to see how your students feel about reading, writing, or any subject really.  

This first link is for readiness beginners with just simple pictures and statements on the first two pages.

The third page is a more ready individual student that asks the same questions but at a more advanced level.

The fourth page is one of the higher levels with no pictures and simply asking questions that may provoke multiple answers.

Pre-Assessment Sheets

There were more pages in this document that I haven't provided here because there were a lot of things you differentiate for and I just wanted to give you a taste


Journal entries and note taking.

      We know taking notes is important because that's how we got through high school and college (hopefully), but did you know that 75% of information is forgotten if we don't write it down? However there are also many different ways you can take notes. I like the presentation on this one because I didn't realize that there were different ways to take notes and do a journal entry because I wasn't taught any other way. I simply wrote down pretty much everything the teacher/professor said and then when writing a journal entry I simply just wrote from one prompt.

With our students however you can take one book and have multiple questions that can prompt a journal entry. There are also different ways you can organize a journal entry which will tie into other tool box strategies such as graphic organizers. A journal entry or taking notes does not have to be a full page of words about the subject. We want our students to get the main idea from what they are reading and supplement it with details, be able to analyze and then simply what they read based off of their information.

The link will show an example of different journal entries students can choose from for interests and readiness.

GRAPHIC ORGANIZERS
When you differentiate for your students you are not changing the quantity of work, just the quality of work by allowing them to complete an alternative assignment that is still teaching the same content. We all know that there are tons of graphic organizers out there for one single subject and finding these will help all of your students learn on their level and progress in the best learning environment and style possible. Here are a list of sites that were provided that have different graphic organizers you can look through to see more about differentiation.

http://www.graphic.org/goindex.html

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/graphicorganizers/biography/

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/graphicorganizers/storymap/


These are just a few tools you can use to help you differentiate for the students in your classroom.
There are more that were listed such as think tic-tac-toe boards and choice boards. You can have spelling be the subject and have students do a variety of things that can help them learn their spelling words. Some examples to put on these boards would be-to write words with blue vowels and red consonants
-write words in all capital letters
-write words 3 times each
-do rainbow words 2 times each
-circle the words in the newspaper or magazine
-cut out letters and form a word from various places
-type words on a computer
-write each word in a complete sentence.

There are also Think Dots and Cubing

-differentiated for readiness. If you have a blow up dice or even a cube you can make write different questions on there to help students answer them based on their entry leader. 

There are a lot of tools out there that you can use in your classroom, but not all of them will help you accurately differentiate for your classroom and even some that do may not be able to help the class that you have. So please really look into what you are using for your students to make sure it really is directed towards where they are at and how it will help them progress and build on the things they are learning. Be the kind of teacher that is willing to do what it takes to help all students and find the right "tool" for them. 

Hallmarks Part III: Proactivity, Grouping, and Materials

So these are the last of the hallmarks, hopefully you’ve found something you can improve in your teaching as I have for mine. I like these last three because they relate fairly well to planning more with your students and the environment that they are in.

Hallmark #7: Proactive thinking and planning for different pathways.

As a teacher many of you know that you need to think on your feet.
Yes there is planning involved (hopefully), but there are things that come up that make us rearrange how and what we were going to teach. Being proactive helps us to try and foresee those problems and plan for them. If we are constantly assessing our students and we know them so well we can be proactive in planning for any hiccups that may arise when we teach. We also need to plan any different pathways we may foresee with any of our students

Hallmark #8: Flexible Grouping:

We as teachers are grouping our students into many different groups academically most of the time. What if you found different ways to group them? Students begin to recognize after
a while what kind of group they're in. They know whether they are in the advanced or struggling group. So with the hallmarks there is a way to group them on various different things. You can group them for interests, readiness, process, and products. The way you group your students can be random. It could be as easy as saying those who have brown eyes and brown hair are in one group.

Hallmark #9: Flexible use of time, space, and materials. 

This hallmark is all about the extra work that the teacher is willing to put into gathering materials needed to help students understand a concept. There are a lot websites that have tons of different worksheets to help students demonstrate the knowledge that they have, but you need t determine which worksheets are really good and will benefit their students in the best ways. Also the way you set up your classroom plays a
big part in differentiating for your students. Every class you have will be different in the needs that they have. Some classes may need more group seating assignments verse single seats or partners. Some may need partnerships or some may not work well in group seating assignments at all. Make sure that your students are aware of the items in their classroom that can help them in the subjects that you're teaching. This also ties back into grouping. Allow students to be in groups with others throughout the school year just by changing the seating arrangement and having several different groups.

These hallmarks give you a glance into how you can use your classroom environment and the students alone to help differentiate for each and everyone of them. When you're classroom is set up to allow for students to feel like it's part of their classroom, they will take part in their education. I know I've said this before, but I really feel that all of these things together can really help each of your students grow to meet their OWN personal potential. It's so important for kids to know you WANT them to succeed at their pace and not yours! Yes as teachers our "goal" is to get everyone to where they should be by the end of the year and that's a lot of information they've got to know! If we try and force all of the curriculum down their throat instead of really trying to identify how to best teach them we are missing the point of educating children. So I hope you've learned more about how to differentiate more for your classroom. I know that a good teacher does some of these, but a great teacher who differentiates does all of these! 

Here are some websites to help with pro-activity, grouping, and materials:
Ways to Group Students
Flexible Grouping
Proactive Teacher for Classroom Behaviors
Teaching Tips for being Proactive
Differentiated Worksheets
Differentiated Materials

Hallmarks Part II: Growth, Varied Pathways, and Engaging Work for ALL

This is part two of talking more about the hallmarks. These are just too good to have on one post so I decided it would be better to break them up and discuss them individually or in smaller parts to really get a feel for what they can help you do.

Hallmark #4: Individual Growth is Emphasized as Central to Classroom Success. 

This is tied in with number three where students and the teacher need to share responsibility for the classroom success and making goals to gain that success together. I remember when we first started my differentiation class and Dr. P mentioned
that differentiation is helping each student individually grow one full year from whichever point they enter your classroom at and I was just mind blown because that is exactly what I want to do. I want my students to come into my class and to know that wherever they are starting from is okay with me because I'm going to help them progress on their level and help them want to grow and build on the knowledge that they already have. When students feel good knowing that their teacher is willing to help them grow no matter where they are at, they are going to have a better outlook on life and help others around them. These things will then lead to a successful classroom where everyone feels important and valued.

Hallmark #5: A "Way Up," Usually Through Multiple and Varied Pathways, and Never a "Way Out." 

This is the one I had and I compared it a class I had taken my first semester in the program where we had to each go across the floor
doing some movement that applied to us and not copy our neighbor. There wasn't a time limit per say on how long so some students could have chosen to go really, really slow although many of us completed our journey across the floor fairly quickly. When moving across the floor you could use different level high where you were straight us, medium where you were crouched, or low where your body was on the ground. You could move slow, normal paced or fast to show different pathways. All these things show different ways toward the same goal: getting across the floor. Another girl compared it to a corn maze which was really creative. We all have the same end goal, but sometimes students need to take different paths to get there. Please be the teacher that helps their student find a way to succeed that is best for them and not the easiest for you.

Hallmark #6 Respectful and Engaging Work for All Students

It's important for all students to be engaged in the work they are doing. Sometimes as teachers we fall

into the habit of having "fun" or engaging activities for our fast finishers while our struggling students have to sit and do the worksheet version of what we are teaching. I've noticed this in a few classrooms I've been in and it makes me sad. I had one girl say to me, "I never get to go to the grab and go math folder." I want her to want to get there, but because she is always one of the last students finished her teacher has not let her get there. So as I work with her I try to help her stay focused on getting to grab and go in math. Also let your students know why they are doing the worksheets they are doing or what they are practicing or learning from the tasks you are giving them. Make it personal and fun to them, even if it is "just a worksheet."

When you help students individually grow and help them see how far they come, they will love you a lot more for it. I know it will be a lot of work trying to get each student to a new level, but imagine how much more you'll do for a child when you incorporate that. Let them see how far they've come, celebrate with them, let them share it with the class, show them that they are awesome and very bright, and you'll be amazed at how much they want to show you how smart they can get. In order to allow them to show you how smart they are or how they know it a teacher must be willing to try different pathways to help their students rise and not just give up. It's important to take into consideration that some students may start from the bottom and have very little to no knowledge of the subject and that's okay. As soon as teachers realize that there is no one right way to teach something to someone they are able to open multiple doors for all of their students with engaging work that they like to do and can still be learning from. Sometimes as teachers we do get caught up in just giving worksheets to all the students and those who finish fast seem to get "rewarded" even when it's just extra practice. For those who struggle to read or focus all they see the worksheet as is a punishment. Find ways to can show you the information that they know by providing different ways and you'll see your students WANT to do better. 

Hallmarks Part I: Assessment/Instruction, Clarity, and Shared Responsibility

Ah the treasured hallmarks. I wasn’t sure how fast I was going to get to these since they were mentioned in our class. I wanted to catch up on a few draft posts that I had before I really devoted my time to these. Now there are not very many, however I think it will take a couple of posts to really cover what I want to say about these wonderful tools.

Dr. P handed us our “golden ticket” of hallmarks and had us read over them in class. We then had to choose ones that we really wanted to pick apart more and understand on a deeper level. When I was first doing that I thought, how can I pick just three? There are so many that I want to learn about that could help me become a better teacher that differentiates in my classroom. As we were discussing these in class a few weeks later though everything began to click where you can’t just have one or some of them. You must have ALL of them in order to be a differentiating teacher. Now once again my request may sound like a lot because teachers do have a lot of stuff going on ALL the time, but I promise you like Dr. P has promised us, if you do these things your job will get a little bit easier. I say that in a sense of you’ll be better prepared and you’ll know how to truly help your students. These hallmarks are principles from several of Carol Tomlinson's texts. 

Hallmark #1: A strong link between assessment and instruction.

Now as teachers we know how important it is to assess our students and we need to be assessing them all the time to see where they're at. That however, doesn't always mean a paper test with a pencil to have students show what they know. A key part to this is you can't differentiate if you don't know what you're differentiating for! Assessment helps us as teachers really know where our students are and how to best reach them. Someone in my cohort came up with a great analogy, "Assessment and instruction are like best friends because they evolve and grow together and help each other to help a student evolve into a better learner!" Assessments help us know what readiness, learning style, and process our students have and this is so important to know so that we CAN differentiate! 

Hallmark #2: The teacher's own absolute clarity about what he or what she wants the students to know, understand, and e able to do-about what is truly important to learn in this unit. 

Being a good teacher means that you determine what your students truly need to know, especially when you take the tie to allow students to discover their own learning! I know you feel as though your students most know everything, even I felt like that at one point, but then I discovered it's just not possible! There are too many things that the core has for your students to truly know, understand, and be able to do! It's important to know what you are teaching them and how these concepts work in order to truly help your students learn what they really need to know. 

Hallmark #3: Shared responsibility for the classroom is between teacher and students in the goal of making it work for everyone. 

This is one of my favorites because it's important for teachers to know your classroom won't really succeed and be a community if you don't allow your students to feel like it is truly their classroom too! They need to know that they are just as responsible for the learning that takes place within the classroom. I love this because you can truly build a great community classroom by doing this. Some ideas I took from our discussion were:

-Allow students to organize the class library in a way that makes sense for them. 

-Give them activities that participate in how the room is run after guidance has been shown by the teacher. 

-Let them participate in picking their leaders for different jobs or volunteering for jobs within the class. 

 These first three hallmarks link together some important information that allows us to become great teachers who are able to differentiate for our students! When we as teachers assess what our students know and plan our instruction to meet those needs we are also clearly sure WHAT we need to be teaching in order to help our students. A big part of that is really getting to know your students and clearly know what they HAVE to know. What information in your core do they need to know because future grades will build upon the stepping stones you are creating now? What standards will they get again and again that majority of them have mastered? How can you extend that for them? Think about how you can help differentiate for your students based on the informal and formal assessments you are constantly taking. Let the students be a part of their learning, talk with them. Inform them of what you've seen so far and ask them if they have any ideas on goals they want to have by the end of the grade you're teaching. Celebrate in the successes of each student and learn from the failed attempts. When we share the responsibility of the learning with our students it gets them more interested in WANTING to learn which in turn makes them life long learners. Isn't that what we want, students who never stop growing and learning even all the way through adulthood? Become the teacher that constantly assesses and modifies her/his instruction to fit the needs of their students and be clear about your teaching so that you are able to make your classroom for everyone. 

Your Classroom Environment

 If you didn't think that your classroom environment effects having a differentiated classroom then you'd be wrong. There are many different factors that you can do to make sure you have a

differentiated classroom and one of the easier ones in the setup of your classroom. The grouping you have with the students' desks, space around the room, and even as simple as what you hang on the wall can have an effect on your students with differentiation. Your routines, procedures, word walls, materials etc all effect how you interact and prepare to differentiate for your students. Also as I've stated before letting your students take part in running the classroom so that it's our class and not just their teacher's class is also really helpful in getting students to help each other become stronger together. When students band together to help celebrate their fellow classmates successes the class can really grow together. So below I've listed points from Tomlinson's fourth chapter that can help us take into part outside tools we can use to help us become a differentiated teacher.

Building a Positive Classroom Environment:

“You are a product of your environment. So choose the environment that will best develop you toward our objective. Analyze your life in terms of its environment. Are the things around you helping ou towards success- or are they holding you back?”  W. Clement Stone

-Study Student’s Culture

-Convey Status

-Commend Creativity

-Make Room for All Kinds of Learners

-Help Students Know About One Another

-Celebrate Success

Take into account your student's background and culture especially when it comes to students who have moved into the area that aren't as familiar with the culture. These could be your ESL students or students from different areas in the state. Be genuine when complementing your students and commend their creativity for all of your students for thinking out of the box. Along with that get your students to celebrate in the success of their fellow classmates and you'll have such a powerful community that will build a positive environment. 

Communication in the Classroom:

“As a leader, these attributes- confidence, perseverance, work ethic and good sense-are all things I look for in people. I also try to lead by example and create an environment where good questions and good ideas can come from anyone.” Heather Bresch

-Build a Group Identity

-Hold Goal Setting Conferences

-Use Dialogue Journals

-Incorporate Teacher Talk Groups in Lesson Plans

Help your students come together to build an identify in such a way that your students know how much it means to your whole classroom and that they are proud to be a part of the whole classroom. By meeting with your students and holding goal conferences in order to find out what it is important to them and it what areas they want to improve in. Sometimes our students know where they'd like to go and are more likely to work harder knowing that they had a choice in their educational goals. This is part of differentiating for them by getting them involved in their learning. Also let your students become the experts and teach others in the group and plan for moments like that on purpose in your lessons. Building trust between your students starts with communication. 

Classroom Operation:

“The only way forward, if we are going to improve the quality of the environment, is to get everybody involved.” Richard Rogers

-We will work hard to ensure our own growth and to assist the growth of others

-Time is Valuable

-Fair is Ensuring All Learner Get What They Need to Succeed

-Teach Up, Work Up

The operation of the classroom is own that also links to helping your students learn and grow together. Once students become experts have them help others and show them different strategies that they used to find solutions. Remember though that time is a valuable thing because there will be many things you need to do in your classroom battling with the things you want to do in your classroom. You can find a way to do both and make them both meaningful by differentiating for your students. This leads to helping all students understand when you help their classmates it won't be in the same way they receive help because everyone has different needs and students need to know that it's okay because we want everyone to succeed.  

Classroom Routines:

-Use Visual Cues

-Pre-establish Groups

-Use Goal Cards Regularly

-Teach for Smooth Transitions

Routines are part of our classroom that helps it run smoothly. When your classroom runs smoothly you can better prepare to help all your students in the ways they need. However continually repeating yourself gets old so having visual cue cards around the room or even non-verbal signs to use for students to remember can help as well. The more we prepare and practice these routines the better transitions will go when it comes to moving from one place to another. There will be many ways to group your students and please find different groups for all your students. Students always tend to know when they are in the lowest group, but you can group by interests, levels, eye color etc and allow multiple entry points to solidify the routines you set up in class. 

Support Systems:

-Vary Materials

-Use Graphic Organizers to Help Structure and Extend Thinking

-Provide Survival Packets

-Use Participation Prompts

-Build Language Bridges

 We all need support, but this kind of support is more about the materials you give to your students who are in your classroom. Allow for your students to take home different homework sheets that fit to their level and readiness and don't focus on always having one set paper for everyone. 

Shared Classroom Responsibility

“Concern yourself more with accepting responsibility than with assigning blame. Let the possibilities inspire you more than the obstacles discourage you.” Ralph Marston

-Use Evaluation Checklists

-Involve students in scheduling decisions

-Engage students in assessing their own progress

-Help students to learn to set their own academic goals

Turning more responsibility over to your students helps them to become more independent learners. It's also a great way to help move students towards assessing their own progress and judging what kind of help they still need or want. Based off this information students are able then to prepare their own academic goals that are important to them. 

Your classroom environment is so much more than just the physical environment. As we saw above there are many ways you can affect a child’s environment. It’s what you do however that will really build your students to becoming life-long learners and wanting to know things for themselves. If you will do these things mentioned above you will discover that your students will be better members of not only your classroom but of society because you taught them how to work together and gave them choices to benefit their education. When we differentiate we take into account not only who we are teaching but where we teach and in what kind of environment we teach. Look over this list and see if there are things you could fix to become a better teacher and differentiate more in your classroom. I know this chapter in Tomlinson’s book gave me a lot of food for thought for my own future classroom. 


Here are some websites that can help you with your classroom environment: 
Creating a Classroom with a Positive Environment
Tips for your Classroom Environment
Key Factors

Teacher’s Response Part II

Teacher's Response II

Last post I only covered one part of the teacher’s response but I feel like it was critical for all teachers to know how important that will help you with a successful class. These others are still important as well and will most definitely benefit you to building a differentiated classroom.

Opportunity: 

Teacher must respond for the students’ needs of opportunity by:

-having important things for them to do that day

-letting them know the things they are doing are worthwhile things

-informing them that the tasks are sometimes daunting but doable

-letting them know that the things you ask them to do open new possibilities up to them.

-having important things that allow them to become all that they can be.

-give them maximum opportunities in roles that make them more efficient and effective.

I love this quote from the book because I think it explains all of us very well! “Genuine opportunity may be frightening because it seems out of reach but it is seldom stultifying. Opportunity requires hard word, but it is work with a purpose-it is work in pursuit of a dream.” I think we all become afraid of the opportunities that we are given and we miss out on a lot of them because that means we do have a bigger potential to live up to. Never let your students be afraid to take new opportunities. Teach them that opportunities allow us to grow and stretch beyond our means.

Investment:

-Let your students know that you work hard to make their classroom

work for all of them.

-the classroom is a reflection of the whole class and the progress they are making

-it shows anyone who walks through our door who we are and why we are a special class.

-there will be new paths to succeed and we will all get there by listening to each other

Invested teachers are personally engaged in what they ask the students to do. That is, invested teacher word hard at learning, spend free time in pursuit of knowledge, think and puzzle over problems, and get excited about new ideas. Become an invested teacher for what you teach and who you teach because you’re students will notice a difference if you’re invested as much as they are.

Persistence:

-Let students know that as they are learning they are growing, but the learning doesn’t stop there. The things that they learn in your class will help them as they get older.

-Giving up is not an option, if something doesn’t work one way there are many other ways that can be tried.

-There are no excuses here, but there is support!

-There is no finish line in learning.

Persistent teachers are always willing to change to get better and become a greater teacher. They don’t think that they are exempt from growing like the students are. The more you persevere the more you learn about yourself and your abilities. Be that teacher that shows her/his students that there is never a time to give up, just find another way that works for you.

Reflection:

-I use what I learn to help you learn better.

-I try to see things through your eyes.

-I continually stop to ask how is this working.

-I continually ask how can I make this better.

A differentiating teacher is one who is constantly reflecting on his/her teaching and making adjustments accordingly. It’s important to realize you will never teach a perfect lesson, but you can come close when you have multiple entry points for your students to all take a bite out of the learning that you’re offering.

We must come to know our students on a very different level than many teachers have before. We must be willing to see them for the unique individuals they are and in order to do that we must bond with our students. We must reach out to them and help them to feel that they are special to us. They may even feel like the favorite in the class, but we want ALL of our students to feel that way and not just some. In order to do that we’ve got to be invested in every student, persistently pushing them to new heights by pushing ourselves to find new ways to help them, we’ve got to reflect on our teaching and make sure that we are truly lifting our students confidence and not spoon-feeding them the answers, and we need to give them every opportunity we can to show their knowledge to solidify what they are learning. By doing these things we will become a teacher that really knows her/his students in such a way that teaching will take on a whole new meaning.

Teacher Response

"Getting to know someone involves curiosity about where they have come from, who they are."

Penelope Lively

I loved the third chapter in Tomlinson’s book! It’s all about what we can do as teachers to help get to know our students. Isn't a classroom all about individuality and personality? I bet if you talk to any seasoned

teacher they will tell you that each year their class was different because of the personalities of each student that came into their room! Is that a bad thing? NO! It’s a great thing. The only thing that can be bad about that is how you relate to each of those students walking through their classroom door. As a teacher you need to take the time to get to know your students and then you’ll begin to understand them. I love the quote that I chose because getting to know someone isn't just asking them simple questions about who they are right now because you don’t know what has shaped them. Each student that walks through our door is going to have a different background that they are coming from that we need to take into account. Right now you’re probably thinking oh my goodness that’s just one more thing I have to do that I don’t have time for. Where in heaven’s name am I going to fit that in? Even though I don’t have a classroom of my own yet, I guarantee if you take time to invite the parents in and get to know them better and get to know more about your student through your parents you’ll have doors opening left and right because the parents will be supporting you and be on your side!

WHAT WAS OUR VISION FOR THE CLASSROOM? 

I love the question that it asks us to remember….”WHAT WAS OUR VISION FOR THE CLASSROOM?”  Going through the education program here at UVU has been amazing and I’ve learned a lot of things about what and how I need to teach. When I was reading this chapter I had to pause and really think about have I lost sight of my original vision for my classroom. I want to live what I believe and Tomlinson quoted a principal that said her staff was amazing because of this statement. As a teacher I want to look beyond what I can’t change and find ways to help my students succeed regardless of the limitations I may have in supplies, books, media, etc.

This chapter goes on to explain HOW we as teachers can respond to our students needs that I briefly discussed in previous posts. The first one is response to invitation and as a teacher the way we can issue that is by our demeanor, words, and actions and communicate that those mean that

• we respect who students are as well as who they can become. We all want our students to succeed and improve. We want them to become all that they can and if you’re a teacher and you’re reading this and you’re thinking uh no I don’t-then you’re in the wrong profession. ;) We want students to know that they have potential that we can see even if they lose sight of that from time to time.
• we want our students to know that we really do want to get to know them. It’s going to be hard because you’ll have 25-35 students around you constantly telling you about this and that, but it’s important for them to share that with you because they want you to get to know them too. If they’re not sharing with you or wanting to tell you something make an effort to get to know them by asking some non-invading questions to help strengthen that bond.
• we want our students to know that they are unique and valuable. We don’t want our students to feel like they are like everyone else. It’s important to celebrate differences as a class. Take time to teach your students how to cheer on and support their fellow classmates. Let students teach other students how to do some of their talents and make sure that all students know they are unique in one way or another because we know that no two people are alike and that’s what makes us special, even if we forget that as adults.
• we want our students to know that we learn from them just like they learn from us. Adults forget things sometimes (don’t we all know it) and it’s amazing how students have a way of reminding us of the truly important things in life. Let students know that there will be times that they might have an answer to a question you don’t know and let them become the teacher. That will instill confidence in them.
• we want our students to know that the classroom is theirs too and that they are needed within the classroom. The most important thing we can do for anyone is to make them feel wanted and valued. We want them to know that our classroom wouldn't be the same without them. There is no “my” classroom, it’s all of ours because it only runs well when we all work together. Take the time to allow your students ownership in your classroom so that they can grow more as a person emotionally and not just academically.

 

There’s one more quote I wanted to add to this post today and it’s by Paul Tournier. He said: “It is quite clear that between love and understanding there is a very close link. He who loves understand and he who understand loves, one who feels understood feels loved and one who feels loved feels sure of being understood.”  When our students feel our response to their needs they feel understood and loved. This really will benefit you in the long run, even if you feel it will take up too much time now. Let your students know that you value them for their own unique personalities and feelings. Let them know that you learn from them every day and make sure when you are

telling them that you have a specific example so that they know you are being sincere. When you are sincere and genuine with your students and you respond to their invitation to be needed you’re classroom will grow immensely together and begin to feel like a home away from home for these kids. When you care about your students and understand your students you are then able to build a differentiated class for them. 

Student Needs Part II

So I debated if I wanted to add more to this chapter as I was reading and I went back and reread over the information I had and decided that there were a few more things that I wanted to say.
Think back to when you knew you wanted to be a teacher. Why did you want to become a teacher? What things motivated you to want to teach? If you are a teacher now, have those things changed because you're in your own classroom? Are you realizing that it's a lot tougher to do than you thought? If you're not a teacher yet, how do you think differentiation or having actual students will change you? Will you treat every student the same and spoon feed them the answers so that they know exactly what's on the test because it's too hard to try different strategies to help them truly learn the content? Are you too afraid that you'll fail in the midst of your trying that you'll just give up and go the easy route? Are we afraid of failing? Yes, because we know that if we fail, we really fail. Guess what though that thought process is going to get you in a lot of trouble. This was a perfect quote and I'm sure will be a great quote to help me when I feel like giving up.

If you really believe in what you're doing, work hard, take nothing personally and if something blocks one route, find another. Never give up! -Lauria Notaro

Now you don't know me, but I'm going to tell you my thoughts on students needs and answer some of the questions above. It will connect to differentiation because it's a part of who we are, even if we don't realize it yet. I always wanted to be a teacher. I had wonderful teachers that taught me how important my education was and what wonderful things I could do with it. I was always encouraged to do my best, but in every class I can remember teachers were treating me like I was their favorite. We moved a lot when I was growing up so that meant moving in the middle of the school years sometimes, which meant a new teacher, friends, classroom, and school. This is tough on any student, but a reality of life. I don't remember a single time where I hated the new school that I went to because my teachers knew how to help me feel like part of the class right away. They might not have known that they were differentiating for me at first because of the requirements on the assignments for the quarter that I was in or the education levels that I was currently at, but emotionally those teachers understood my need to feel accepted and loved going into an environment that was new and scary. I've always had teachers like this and I loved them dearly. During this time I knew that I wanted to be just like those teachers. I wanted to help students feel loved and welcome into my classroom. I wanted them to want to love learning just as much as I did and I wanted them to know how important they are when they are in my classroom.



In Tomlinson's book it states that even though we try to meet all of our students needs, they are hardly ever all met because of how hard it really is to teach to the individual needs of every student. We also have to account for the backgrounds and cultures that our students come from. Each setting we are in whether we are a child or an adult varies on how we respond and what needs can be met. Children may react a lot differently at school with us as a teacher then they do at home. There also may be issues going on at home where some of the students basics needs are not being met. I want to be the kind of teacher that makes my students feel special. I want them to know that I believe in them so much, even if no one else does, that I know they can do some pretty amazing things. I want my students to know that just because their home life isn't perfect doesn't mean that school can't be a safe environment for them where they can come to get most of their needs met. I wish I could say that I'll meet all of their needs and have the most happy, perfect students in the world, but the reality of that is that no matter how hard I try, I won't be able to fix everyone's needs. I will however help where I can and allow my students to be themselves and live up to that potential that I know they are capable of. I will be the kind of teacher who helps each student grow a full level no matter where they start out in my class. I will be the kind of teacher who tries what I can to help my students and I'll probably fail a time or two or possibly even ten. I will not give up on my students no matter what the circumstances are. I want them to know I'm backing them and supporting them in their goal to reach to new levels and heights. Be the teacher that inspires your students and meets their needs because you'll discover that you've grown as well! Don't ever give up because it will be hard and there will be days that you want to say forget it, but that's when you're so close to making it work because you want it so bad.