Initiative Fatigue
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Unfortunately, this belief that nothing is here to stay and that all new ideas are just a fad means that sometimes the really good ideas don't get the proper investment. Now don't get me wrong, we as educational leaders are responsible for this reality; we have created this monster all on our own. However, it is important that we do the work to show our staff the good ideas when they come along, push everyone (including ourselves) to grow as professionals and to celebrate the great teaching moments when they happen.
Our latest victim
Differentiated Instruction (DI) is a 21st century victim of the "this too shall pass" mentality. Yeah sure, it gets plenty of lip service. DI gets tossed around in conversations and is pointed to by many leaders as "something that teachers need to do more of", but as we dig into what people mean by those statements we often find they don't really understand what DI is. However, it has stood the test of time and educational leaders have a responsibility to help grow their own knowledge base in this area and support their teachers in the development of theirs.This year our faculty has been working to deepen our understanding of what DI is, and what it isn't. We have been using Rick Wormeli's book Fair Isn't Always Equal to anchor our conversations. Early next year, we will be fortunate enough to video conference with Rick and dig deeper into his thoughts and ideas on DI as well as provide our teachers with more practical examples on how they can differentiate instruction and assessment to best meet the needs of their students.
In our own backyard
During an unannounced observation of a classroom earlier this month, I was fortunate enough to witness DI in action. When I entered Mrs. Neske's fourth grade classroom I could see that the students were working on multiplication (specifically, powers of ten) and that a significant number of the students were struggling to understand this new concept as it was being taught to them.
Mrs. Neske was using several pedagogical techniques that support student learning. She modeled the work for her students, utilized technology for increased engagement, showed enthusiasm for the content through her tone of voice, and created opportunities for students to immediately practice with the new concept. However, despite all these great teaching moves, the students were still not connecting with the material. At this point in the lesson, Mrs. Neske had already begun to differentiate in the way that she was addressing different learning styles; however, what she did in the next ten minutes truly dug into the differences in readiness among her students, and that is where the power of DI truly exists.
Mrs. Neske was sensing that the students were struggling with the concept as a whole group. She said things like, "This is a little confusing. I totally agree. We are learning something new and that is normal. I will model the next one." and "How do we feel about that one?" She did not stop here however.
Mrs. Neske understands the power of assessments and she had planned opportunities to collect assessment data into her lesson. After the whole group practice she had students answer four questions independently on personal whiteboards. She used this time to circulate the room and collect informal assessment data on the progress of her students. She was also able to intervene with two students and provide some one-to-one instruction.
After the students shared out their answers (by showing the teacher their whiteboard), Mrs. Neske was beginning to see that some students were ready to apply their new knowledge in independent practice while others were still floundering with the concept. In response, she attempted one more tactic. She gave the students one more problem and asked them to discuss their strategies for solving it at their table groups. This way students could hear from each other in "student speak" which created an opportunity for students to learn the concept in a new way.
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Had the lesson ended here and all the students had gone to independent practice, it would be hard to argue that Mrs. Neske had not done her job as an educator. She had presented new information in an engaging, exciting manner, connected it to prior learning, planned for and conducted informal assessment, modeled and provided opportunities for students to share their math reasoning. It was what she did next that hit the DI home run.
Mrs. Neske conducted one more assessment, which she called a "blind check-in." She explained that the check-in would tell her what she was going to do for the next 5 minutes. She asked the students to close their eyes and give her a thumbs up if she could give them a quiz right now and they would be good to go, a thumb sideways if they needed a little more help from the teacher or a peer, and a thumbs down if they did not even know where to start. She quickly scanned the room and wrote down student names on a piece of paper.
She then used the computer attached to her projector to type of a quick set of directions for students that identified independent practice problems for them to work on in their workbooks. Once the students had begun on this independent practice, she used her list to pull six students to the carpet for small group re-teaching on this concept. DI brilliance!
Pulling it together
When we think of DI in our classrooms and schools, there is value in discussing multiple intelligences, learning styles, interests and personality profiles. However, where the rubber meets the road is in differentiation around readiness. It is imperative that we consider ways to meet students at their readiness level and utilize instructional approaches that meets students where they are and move them to the next step.
Vgotsky spoke of the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD), the area beyond what we know comfortably but before complete ignorance and frustration. The best learning happens when students are operating in this zone, and in order for us to get our students there, it will be necessary for us to push ourselves into our own ZPD. Our growth as leaders, teachers and a school is the only way to ensure the growth of our students.
