Each Day is a Revelation

Here's my second post for my differentiation class and after I posted my first postI went back through chapter one in Tomlinson's book to find out more key tips that we can use as teachers to help our classroom become more of a differentiated classroom.

      "Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn." -Benjamin Franklin

I love this quote for a variety of reasons, but one of the main reasons is because students need to be involved in the process of their learning. If we simply keep giving them the answer instead of allowing them to take part in their learning, then they aren't learning anything and will simply forget. In Tomlinson's book it states there are certain student traits, classroom elements, and metaphors that you can use to help you build a differentiated classroom and help your students become involved in their own learning.

Student Traits

If we want to be effective teachers and really make sure that we are involving our students there are traits that Tomlinson goes over to help each of us understand where a student is at and how far they've come in being ready to learn.

              Readiness

 According to Tomlinson, this refers to a student's knowledge, understanding, and skill related to learning. We need to assess where students are at when they come into our classroom and then build from that knowledge. If we don't take the time to assess where our students are at and just begin to teach the lessons we have ready then we are setting our students up to fail and become more lost in our classroom. Readiness also takes into account your student's prior experiences, the way that they've learned and how they truly feel about school. If you have students who don't enjoy being at school and don't want to learn, you won't be able to reach them on any level until you understand why. If we take the time to have a quick one-on-one with our students then we can express how eager we are in getting to know them and see what apprehensions they have about the upcoming school year. I know that when I was in school we filled out a paper and that's a lot easier for teachers to read through, but try taking 10 minutes out of your day and see 3-5 students and truly get to know them and how "ready" they are for the upcoming school year and what you can do as a teacher to help them succeed.

          Interest

By taking the time to talk to your students individually you can also see what kinds of subjects or things they are interested in. What kinds of things do your students have a passion for? Would they be willing to share it with the class? Is it something you can use to not only involve your student in learning, but tie to your curriculum and build a close knit classroom? We all know that there are students who come into our classroom who want to share everything about their day and so maybe you take a day where students get to pick one thing to teach/tell/share with their fellow classmates that way your students know you care about their interests and are allowing them to share with the whole class.

          Learning Profile

This refers to how students learn best. Please take into account, if you don't already know this, that each of your students have a different way of learning! Not every student will be okay with just an explanation. Not every students will want to just read about it. Not every student will want to explore and discover the answer. Do not ever forget that telling them the answer doesn't help them but hurts them in the long run. Try to have various ways/strategies of teaching a concept especially if you can see that you have some struggling students who just are not comprehending what you are trying to teach them. No student wants to admit that they don't know what the teacher is talking about while he/she is giving the lesson when we ask for questions. Our assessments are a way to check for understanding, but sometimes I feel that when we give the assessment our students begin to assume we are moving on from that lesson so they don't have to worry about learning it. Please make sure they your students truly understand what you are trying to teach them in the best way possible for them. Learn their learning profile and help them succeed. 

           Affect

This ties into the other parts of the students traits and my post from before because this is how students feel about themselves. This is where you want to build such a close knit community that each of the students in your class is willing to help out a fellow classmate who may be struggling, but even more than that the classmate who is struggling is willing to accept the help that's being offered. The student takes the help because they know that there fellow classmates want to see them succeed, just like their teacher does. Your students will know that their work has value and that whatever they create will be appreciated and not made fun of. 

Classroom Elements

There are things you can do as a teacher to help draw students into their learning. These elements play a part in helping students feel comfortable in your classroom and have a better understanding of you as their teacher. 

          Content

We all know that for each grade there is a specific outline of curriculum that our students are supposed to know. This is where we want to build on what the students already know and help them to expand their thinking/knowledge to a higher level. Make sure that all students, even those who struggle at grasping the content of the lesson, know that you are there to help them succeed. I can't stress that enough and I'm sure you'll be hearing it several times in many of my blog entries.

           Process

This element refers to how a student applies what you are teaching them. This also allows you to see what the student learned from what you taught them. When the student is taking the information you taught them, this is a way to see how they are making sense and literally processing it in their head. You'll be able to see via homework or class activity/assessment how your students are processing the content you are teaching them.

          Product

This is the main assessment part of your classroom setting. This is seeing how your students show you what they know, The outcome of what you've been teaching them. There are many different ways a student can show you what he or she has learned so be open minded and vary the ways you have your students show you what they know. 

          Learning Environment

This is one huge, not that all of the other things we've talked about aren't important, but the way you have your classroom set up is going to affect how you teach and how your students learn. This element contains what your class looks like from the walls, student desk setup, what procedures and rules you have in your classroom, and even how you respond to things that may go wrong in your classroom. Every day will not be perfect, but a combination of great things can help you create a great day. Make sure that as a teacher you have clear cut policies in place that you are willing to follow through no matter what student you are dealing with. Also help the students help you by building a safe classroom environment where everyone's opinion is valued and where classmates want to help each other. If you can do that you're on your way to building a fantastic differentiated classroom. 

Each day is a revelation about your students and about yourself, especially when you involve your students in their own learning. There will be days that it'll click for both you and your students and before you both realize you as a teacher will be differentiating without thinking about it, and each of your students will be succeeding because you've both learned to listen to each other and come together to create the kind of learning environment that your student needs. Don't forget to take each day to learn something new about your students and let them get to know their teacher. Let your students see that you care about where they end up in life and just want to help them love learning as much as you do.