The first article titled Navigating the Intricacies of Project-Based Learning Through Flexible Grouping was very interesting to me. I too loved the phrase that "Differentiation is both an art and a science." Differentiation has been been used as "buzz word" in education far too often, but rarely has it been broken down in this way. While its well known that effective differentiation requires that we work to meet each student based on their specific needs, the how to do it in a classroom is often the question. I literally laughed out loud however when the article asked "Can all of this be managed for a class of 25 students each and every day." How many of us have many more than 25 students in a class and how grateful would we be if we had to differentiate only 25 souls at one time?!
One thing that particularly spoke to me was the permission that this article gave for varying the tasks that students create. What may be one student's strength, may be another's greatest weakness. While it is our job as educators to help them improve on their weaknesses, its also nice to be able to play to their strengths by allowing different tasks for different students. It may take a little out of the box thinking for the educator but at the end of the day, the student is going to greatly benefit. I do wonder however how to construct a rubric that would meet a variety of tasks? While I love the idea of giving students a wide range of choices, we also have to have something concrete to for assessment. I'm hoping that this class will help clarify that for me.
The second article titled "Building School Communities One Brick at a Time" very much hit home for me. This year I am in a new school, with a fairly new administration and instructional team, where the veteran teachers have only been in this school for a year. While change is amazing and I'm loving the new opportunity, it has also caused me a bit of anxiety. I came from very much a "Machine Culture" school where we had always done things the way that we were doing them, thus we were going to continue to do it that way. I even saw it in my own teaching which is what really spurred me to make a change.
My new school is incredibly forward in it's thinking and wants teachers to implement new ideas that will help student achievement. One of the major focuses is the PBL model. We are encouraged to collaborate on a regular basis. The article mentioned that the school re-purposed funds to pay for substitutes to allow for teachers time to collaborate and develop units and that allowed the teachers to feel ownership for the process. So often in education we see a bandwagon that is jumped upon. To see a school leadership team give up one of their most important resources (money), shows the teachers how important the initiative is. I so often have heard teachers say "I'd do this if I had time but I have absolutely no time to work on this on top of everything else that is expected of me." To see a school not only tell the staff but to show the staff the importance is refreshing.
Allowing stakeholders to understand it's importance is also essential. I loved how the school leaders highlighted moments on social media and in the newsletter. Student and teacher buy in is of course important, but the parent buy in is essential. Parents have to know the why of what we are doing.
Creating a new culture in a school is a scary thing and kudos to the instructional leaders at Oakland Elementary and the Spartanburg SC District 2 office. Through a clear vision and implementation of a a mission, the students are gaining essential knowledge that far outstretches the walls of the classroom.
Liza -
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comments. Yes, differentiated learning is definitely a goal that many of us struggle to meet in our classrooms. Sometimes, I think we make this out to be a little too difficult. The goal, as suggested in the article, is to simply start...start small, make mistakes, learn from them, and continue on! To teach all students in the same way is not best. We all know this, we can all acknowledge this, but when we are expected to do this, we feel stress and anxiety.
As a classroom teacher, with three block math classes, I used differentation by simply organizing my students into 4 groups: small group instruction with the teacher, practice skill or concept through a game or activity group, a technology group to work on individual skills, and a project group. While the organization of my groups was not highly sophisticated, it did allow me to tailor instruction to personalize student learning. As students worked in their groups, I ensured their progress through some type of formative assessment...sometimes graded, sometime not. Nevertheless, while providing the freedom that came with differentiated grouping, I believed in keeping my students accountable to the learning they were expected to gain.
The second article, as you mentioned, speaks to the organic nature of this work. It generally starts small and through the engagement and excitement experienced by a few, grows to many! As educational leaders (classroom teachers and administrators), it is our job to advocate for best practice. We do this through the use of social media as well as through conversations with colleagues. Invite colleagues to your classroom, show them the work your students are doing, blog or post these highlights through social media. Seeing, for many of us, is believing. Educational/organizational change and transformation requires our time, efforts, (sometimes money), and our willingness to share what we have learned!
I am grateful that you, even if sometimes hesitant, are willing to grow and explore various practices such as differentiation, PBL, and inquiry-based instruction. We are here to grow and learn together!