Your response should include:
- 2 concepts that strike you as important or significant and your reasons why.
- 1 concern or question about how the chapter content applies to you or in your classroom OR comment constructively on someone else's post.
Chapter 2
Please provide your responses to Chapter 2 here. Please take some time to read through everybody's responses.
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1. "The teacher does not see students as "bluebirds" or "buzzards" and she ensures that students do not see themselves or one another in those terms, either." (p. 23)
ReplyDelete2. "Remember that there is much middle ground between an absolutely traditional classroom and an absolutely differentiated one (assuming either one could ever exist). (p.23)
I have always had a concern about splitting groups of students into the "sheep and the goats" and have tried not to do that in the classroom. It is comforting to know there is a wide range of ground between the truly traditional and the completely differentiated classroom. My concern is whether I have the ability to make my more traditional classroom closer to the differentiated classroom shown in Figure 2.2
~ Laura
1. The section, The Teacher Modifies Content, Process, and Products Based on Student Readiness, Interest, and Learning Profile, has many important ideas. It suggests that readiness is not fixed and many students will struggle at some point. To avoid the “bluebird” and “buzzard” labels, we need to keep our groups flexible.
ReplyDelete2. The charts in chapter 2 are very helpful. On page 24, Figure 2.2 Comparing Classrooms, was an eye-opener for me. I know I need to make changes, when teaching in a classroom setting. I also really like the analogies the author used throughout the chapter. My favorite was the coach and team analogy. The coach never tries to keep all of his players alike. His job is to take each player to greatness. He never just says, “ok, your skills are good enough.”
*CindyF
1. I found the reminders about the positive aspect of differentiation to be important: the use of assessment enables a student to demonstrate knowledge/skill rather than "cataloguing mistakes;" (p.18) and all partners "work from strengths and competencies not from deficiency" (p 22)
ReplyDelete2. Beyond the possible Scantron "payoff" from differentiation, there is the moral tug as well: Differentiation provides the "ability to dignify human potential" ((p26) ... and "provides equity of access to excellence for every student." Big ideals but seem worth striving toward.
I found the travel analogy helpful as I sort through where and how I might insert some differentiation. The analogy offers that it is important to keep the goal/learning essential clearly focused - in traveling to Boston (p17), getting to Boston is essential - how direct the path or the mode of transportation or how long it takes you are not "one-size-fits-all." Allowing/facilitating variance in "travel" is vital in order for all students to reach the essential.
Sorry - forgot to add my name! ~ Cindy C.
DeleteCindy I too really got a lot out of the travel analogy. We need to focus more on the destination and not the journey. One student's "Ah Ha" moment may be different from the teacher's or another student's and that is ok too. I think sometimes we get too caught up in the process and don't focus on the creative side of learning.
DeleteAmy
I have always been a firm believer in student readiness within their learning profiles. Students must be developmentally ready to learn certain skills and understanding of skills. Students who aren't ready need to be given other opportunities for direct instruction such as a more structured or more concrete approach with fewer steps and requiring a simpler or a more deliberate pace of learning. Advanced students should be able to skip certain skills and be given activities that are more complex and abstract, with a fast paced approach or more in depth learning of the topic. (page 18)
ReplyDeleteI too, enjoyed the analogy of the "road map to Boston." The end product is that we get there, not HOW we got there. I think students should be able to use their own road map. Who knows, maybe the teacher will learn a better way to get there.
*Lana
I also found the travel analogy interesting. It was a great reminder about how to go about with our differentiating. We can get them all to the destination if we allow for more than one path.
ReplyDeleteFigure 2.2 was also very useful. The comparisons between the traditional classroom and differentiated classroom allowed for me to see which side I learned more towards and what I really need to work on. I know I am very flexible with time and use lots of intelligences, however, I can allow more flexibility with assignment results and types of "testing."
On pg. 22 it talks about how many students are seen as "unsuccessful" if they don't live up to the standards, even if they made more progress that year than any other student. I saw this with one of my students last year and I still designated him as successful but I cannot say I had that mindset for all of my students.
Lastly, the section about a good teacher having an evolving philosophy and mindset, as a opposed to just one for their whole career resounded with me. It makes sense that since each year we have a new class, and education being ever changing, that our mindsets change with the times.
-Brianna
I found several things in this chapter to be significant, "there is no formula or recipe that works for all learners in all times." Also most effective teachers differentiate some of their instruction, but not an a regular basis. I fit that profile. My one strength is that I don't look at every class the same way. I learned many years ago while teaching kindergarten every class is different, what worked one year may not work with the next class.
ReplyDeleteAnother concept I found important is that assessment and instruction are inseparable. I took an assessment class this summer and I learned so much about assessment, I couldn't believe how much it contributes to the instruction of a lesson.
Figure 2.2 is an eye opener, I have a lot of work ahead of me.
Chris
This chapter helped me to pinpoint some things that I would like to focus on in the upcoming school year. Like many of you already stated its not about the journey but the destination. I also want to use more variety when it comes to assessment. I know how to assess at the end of the chapter/unit but what about the daily assessment,the more formative assessment. I would like to use exit slips more and even doing some jigsawing in small groups.
ReplyDeleteAs a few of you have also mentioned grouping the students so that they are fluid and flexible groups so no one is seen as a "bluebird" or "buzzard" These are just a couple of things I would like to focus on.
Ooops I forgot my name...Amy
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