Differentiating

Finally, we talk about differentiated learning. So, yesterday was my first day back and we spent the whole day in various meetings discussing what it means to be focused on Common Core Standards. My principal said something that I absolutely love her for. She said, "You know, I'm not really all that blown away by the standards, because this is what I've watched great teachers do for years. Most of you are already doing it!" True, so very true. I think, for a long time, that many of the people coming into teaching (myself included) are young, inexperienced, and have a hard time suddenly being in charge of forming people. Which is literally what we do. Whatever students love about their experiences is directly connected to their teachers. Sit back a minute, and think of your favorites. I bet you can picture them right now, supporting you, guiding you, and inspiring you in a direction you might not have gone in without them. We aspire to be these great people. People who are role models, people our students can look up to, and most importantly, people who can actually educate your kids. The last one is the hardest. At the end of every year I take a bit to reflect on what, if anything, I passed on to my students. I pray that they will retain the passage of Harry Potter I read, or that they loved the bird cam so much they want to become ornithologists. But what I don't consider often enough, is if I did enough to differentiate what I taught. If I were effective as a whole group teacher. If all my students left the library with good intentions about how they were going to use the information I fed them. There are, of course, plenty of students who need a completely separate transfer of information. And I always figure out who needs a little extra support during the course of a year. But I also always feel stretched as I try to travel among groups and decide who needs me more. Who can continue on without me as I work towards my own goal of sharing the information they need to grow as students. We spent a bit of time discussing how to differentiate our students- which means how to make a teacher's time as effective as possible during a lesson. Most teachers, maybe I should say all teachers, do not have the support they used to. Teacher assistants are in high demand constantly, and their schedules absolutely blow my mind. I can't even really read them. They spend like 20 minutes in one place and then it's on to the next. So it really is up to a classroom teacher to decide how best to use a students time during a lesson. The typical formula has been a mini-lesson in the beginning, then group work that allows students to work where they currently are or on a slightly higher level. The good news? We are announcing that every student is different, with different abilities and needs. We are saying that we want every student to succeed on a level that matches what NC asks us to do. The downside? Do we have enough support to make this a reality. Personally I really like the Common Core. If used properly it could completely change the way a school runs. But are we ready for that?