Differentiation - How does it work?

I was recently asked "How does differentiation work in practice?"

First, let's cover what differentiation is and what it is not. Differentiated instruction is providing students with multiple learning styles and levels the opportunity to access and develop skills in the classroom. Differentiation is not handing a student with a higher skill set uninstructed work to keep them "busy" while helping other students. This is important to remember as it seems some parents expect that latter. I'm not sure if they're just remembering their own schooling and some bad pedagogical practices they experienced, but handing a student higher level work without instruction is a recipe for disaster.

In the lower grade levels, differentiation looks a lot like station work and task rotations. I know it's been awhile for most of us parents, but if you remember your kindergarten and first grade classroom, it was likely split up into different sections based on content. I personally loved the reading carpet the best, shocking I know. During "free time" students have the option to visit various sections to work on whatever they want. Inevitably, your child will pick what they like best, but a good teacher will encourage them to visit sections where they may be struggling. They don't need to visit the areas they are struggling with daily, as that gets exhausting for them. School should be fun at least some of the time. During non-free time, teachers in lower grades will use station work as a way to meet the needs of a variety of students while being able to instruct the class as a whole.

The further your student moves in school, the more differentiation looks like choice within the classroom. My classroom is obviously not divided into content sections as I only teach English. Instead, I offer students choices as far as what book they read and how they wish to be assessed on their work. A cool tool to use with higher level grades is something called the "Comprehension Menu". This is a tool that allows teachers to see what students know and what they need to work on while giving them the option of how they wish to show that information. Comprehension Menus offer students options based on learning styles rather than skill level.

To help your child with differentiation, it's important to know your child's strengths and areas for growth. It's important to know what your child already knows, but it's just as important to know HOW they know what they know. Look into what type of learning style your child may have. Are they kinesthetic? Auditory? Visual? Some combination? Help your child identify the way they learn best and encourage them in those areas.

Even with differentiation, your child is going to be bored at some point. Taking notes is boring, but it's a valuable skill to have. Talk to your child about why they might be feeling bored. I dread note taking with an unholy passion, but I'm still glad that I know how to do it. If your child is beginning to lose focus because of boredom, it's time to talk to the teacher and see what a normal lesson/day is like for your student. I won't lie and pretend that all teachers are perfect or all classrooms are model classrooms. However, it's important to remember to get both sides of the story and see how you and your child's teacher can work as a team to help your child the most. 

Every Teacher Needs a Hobby: I'm Training for the 5K

I run. I don't always run far, but I run. I don't run against others or with a friend. I run to music. I run to stay sane. I run for my me time.

Every second of every day I am needed. I'm needed by my children. The boy is four now and the girl is 7 months. They need me when I'm home. I'm needed by my students. The school year is almost over and the impossible mission of turning them from froggy freshmen into prince-like sophomores is nearing its end. They need me for this daunting task. I'm needed by my coworkers. The audit two years ago left a massive void of veteran teachers that has been filled with newer teachers who need help and reassurance. It wasn't so long ago that I was in their shoes, but I'm there to fill the role of the veteran teacher with five years under my belt.

I'm needed. And being needed takes its toll. So I run.

Two years ago I ran a miniMarathon. It was a big achievement for me. I trained, but halfway through I sprained my ankle. I got up and continued running until I finished just over two and a half hours after I started.

Since then I've experienced a pregnancy that left me unable to exercise after going into preterm labor at 32 weeks. When my daughter was born at just over 38 weeks, I couldn't wait to get back to working out. I need to run. I need the release. I need that short reprieve without another human on me.

I started running again. It's slow going and painful at times, but I run. My goal is to get back to under 9 minute miles. My fastest so far is 9:47 per mile. Like I said, it's slow going, but I'm running. The weird thing about me is that I need a goal. I need a finish line. I have to have my end in mind or I get bored. I'll be participating in the virtual 5K run with some other bloggers. It helps keep me accountable for my running.

I need the motivation. Without the motivation, I wouldn't run. Without running, I'd probably just take up drinking instead. 

Ask a Teacher: Late Summer/Early Fall Birthdays and Starting School

I was asked recently about what to do with a child who has a late summer or early fall birthday. In my district, a child turning 5 before October 1st has the ability to start kindergarten. This creates a dilemma for parents like me. I gave birth in 2012 to a daughter who was born at the end of September. No matter what, she's going to be the odd child out. She'll either be the youngest in her class or the oldest. But what should you do if you find yourself in my shoes?

The answer is as aggravating as you think. It really just depends on the child. The best advice I can give you is to pay attention to the needs and wants of your child. There's more that goes into choosing when to start school than just academics. Is your child emotionally ready to handle all day school? Is your child socially ready for kindergarten? What was preschool like for your child?

Pay attention to signs that your child is ready for kindergarten. Scholastic has a great explanation of some signs of readiness for kindergarten.

Some parents are frustrated by the age cut off and feel that their children are ready for kindergarten, even if they are turning 5 after their district's cut off. Even if your child is advanced, it's important to remember that there will be other like-age children with your child and that teachers are trained to be adept at differentiation. Differentiation is a big teacher word that just means making a lesson approachable for students that show a variety of learning levels. If your child really is bored and needs more advanced work, there are ways to skip grades down the line. I'm always an advocate of children who are displaying advanced skills be evaluated to see if they are eligible for an IEP for giftedness.

If you're still unsure about when your child should start kindergarten, the best thing you can do is take your child into the school and see what type of assessments the school might offer to help you make your decision.

That's So Gay

I changed my profile picture on Facebook. Maybe I'm jumping on the bandwagon. I don't know. It took me by surprise when I arrived home from school on Tuesday. My feed was a sea of red and I clicked around and figured out what it was. And then I waited. I'm embarrassed that I waited. I should have done it right then, but I worried. I worried that someone might be upset with me.

The thing is, though, that I can choose whether I associate myself visibly with marriage equality. If I were gay, I wouldn't have that luxury. I was sitting on my straight privilege. I decided it was the right thing to do to change my profile picture. It's the right thing to do to wear my heart on my sleeve, especially on this issue. This is different than "teehee post your bra color for breast cancer!" Everyone is against cancer. No one is gleefully supporting cancer. Posting my bra color isn't controversial. It's slacktivism. It doesn't raise money or help anyone with cancer.

Visibly supporting the right for everyone to marry IS a big deal. Facebook is the calling card a lot of us use. It's how we identify ourselves. We post everything about ourselves. I mainly stay out of political debate on Facebook because I dislike confrontation. This is more than political debate. This is about people being denied rights and the fact that people who aren't familiar with me have no idea what my thoughts are. A coworker or new friend doesn't know it's okay to talk to me about their partner because there's no magic sign on my face that says "ally" or "homophobe". Now there's a magic sign on my Facebook that tells you that I believe all people were created equal and deserve equal rights.

As a teacher, I try to make sure that I counter the "That's so gay" comments so prevalent with today's teens. A gay student has no idea that I'm an ally until I show them with my actions. I'm trying to show that more often, as is relevant to what we are doing. It's important that students know that someone is there on their side. Gay and lesbian teenagers commit suicide at an alarming rate. Some of them just need to know that someone is there to protect them. I may not be gay, but I need to show my support as often and vocally as possible. Otherwise I'm just another random bystander who could have helped.

It's Not an Excuse: The Problem with Truancy

In a recent Courier-Journal article, the local teacher union was put in the spotlight for asking about test scores and absenteeism. While some may see this as just another excuse for low test scores, JCTA really is onto something with this.

The article lists the percentage of students who missed 20 or more school days. Let's just talk about those days. Twenty days. That's at least one month worth of classes. A unit generally lasts six weeks, so it's two-thirds of an entire unit. Think about your job. Could you miss 20 days? How much work could you get done if you missed 20 days every year. Would your employer put up with it? The only time I've ever missed that many days in a year was after giving birth. Even then, I actually only missed 25 days. The statistic also just lists students who miss a minimum of 20 days. There are students who miss more days than that.

The most absences I've had from a single student were 116. There are only 175 school days in a year, so he was present for one day less than three months of instruction.

Absences can't always be avoided. Sending an obviously sick child to school isn't doing anyone any favors. However, these absences aren't always for illness. One of the commenters on the article suggested safety as a reason why students are choosing to miss school. I wouldn't claim that every child feels safe every second of every day in ever school, but that's just not the case with every one of those students. Another commenter decided to be inflammatory and remark the absences were clear proof that even students saw how useless the teachers in our county are. Your bias and ignorance are showing, sir. I have yet to meet a student who, when asked why they missed school, replied that the teachers were too stupid to teach them. I've heard that teachers ask students to do too much work and that school interferes with their social lives, but nothing about useless teachers.

Some of the schools in the article have more than a third of their student body missing 20 or more days. My own school fell around the one fifth mark. What are we supposed to do with these students? Moreover, what are we supposed to do with the parents? Who is responsible? Should we be so brazen as to enter homes and drag students out? Should we fine and jail the parents? What's going to work? Prizes and praise on our end are not working. We can host ice cream parties, pep rallies and everything else between, but if kids aren't motivated by it, what else can we do?

The absentee rate, like so much else, is a symptom of a larger societal issue. These issues are going to continue to plague the students long after they have graduated, or should have graduated.

In the meantime, I should really learn to stop reading comments on articles. It only makes my head hurt.

So You Do It!

Practice makes perfect. That's what I tell my students when they lament the fact that they've already written this type of piece before or read this kind of story before. Are you perfect at it? No? Then you can still improve.

Inevitably, you will have a child who reminds you that you are not perfect, either. This is only natural. Would you want to do extra work if there was a way to weasel out of it? Well, maybe you would because you want to better yourself as an individual. Most teenagers, especially those who dislike reading and writing already, don't want to do work if they can help it.

Here's a trick that gets students to do that work that they dread. Do it with them. If you want them to do a worksheet, do it yourself. If you want them to write about their personal hero, make sure you can share you're answer. If you want them to write a personal narrative, by God, be ready to write that personal narrative.

I was called out on Wednesday. I have to have my students write a personal narrative in the first unit. As my honors kids sat typing their pieces, one kept complaining. I told him he could complain all he wanted, it wasn't optional. "Oh yeah? It doesn't look like you're doing it." Sure he was getting a little sassy, but he wasn't be aggressive. And true, I wasn't doing it.

So I sat at a computer and began drafting my own personal narrative. I wrote about my experience in the mini marathon. Before I got started, about a dozen students were trying to talk or generally be off task. When I started typing, they glanced at me and immediately got to work.

It's so simple, but it works every time. Think about your family. How excited is your kid going to be when you tell him to do chores that you won't do? What if you do them together? How excited are you to do something your spouse tells you? You're probably going to be much happier if they are performing the task as well.

Never ask your students to do something you wouldn't do. If it's a ridiculous waste of time, don't do it. And be sure to share your example with your kids. They'll love it.

You Know You're a Teacher When...

Sorry for the lack of entries lately. With the start of the school year and beginning my second masters, I literally have not had time to update my blog. Since I have some time, I thought I'd give you a brief list of teacher quirks, or maybe they're just my teacher quirks.

1. You can go an entire work day without using the restroom and not realize it.
My students were always amazed by this when I was pregnant. Yes, I really only went to the bathroom during lunch. I couldn't just leave my kids and I didn't have enough time in between classes to waddle my pregnant self to the bathroom and back again. In my new room, I don't have access to an adult only bathroom and I'm not fighting students for a stall. So I just don't go.

2. You can drop a conversation with an adult and move straight into a correction before returning to your conversation.
"I know. It's so cold up here. I really need to get something to wear to keep warm UNLIKE THAT OUT OF DRESS CODE HOODIE THAT JOHNNY IS WEARING RIGHT NOW, because I just need to keep some layers here in my classroom." I swear, listening to teachers talk to each other during school is hilarious.

3. You can just drop a conversation with an adult, never pick it back up and no one thinks it's rude.
"Yeah, I'm thinking about going to the game..." and then I just turn around and follow some kid who needs something or is doing something wrong. Or both.

4. You stay after school on a Friday to make your Monday more manageable.
I'd rather sleep later on Monday than roll out early on a Friday. It's just what I do. I like to have a pleasant start to the week. If that means an hour after school on Friday, that's what it takes. And I have other teachers who stay there with me.

5. You call Thursday "Friday Eve" and wish people a "Happy Friday Eve!"
Teachers love weekends, too. Some students seem to think teachers enjoy waking up early and coming to work. Just because I like my job doesn't mean I don't want to lounge around on the couch every once in awhile. I'm not a robot.

6. When Friday finally comes, you take the last 2 minutes of every class to blare Rebecca Black's "Friday".
Your thoughts that I'm the most awesome teacher ever have just been confirmed. I started it as a joke, but the kids actually kind of like it. I'm afraid of the type of monsters I have created.

7. You keep an extra pair of shoes in your desk.
For days when the heels just have to come off.

8. You and your coworkers devise a series of themed dress days just to see if the students notice.
They don't, until two of you come in the same outfit on accident.

9. When you stay late, you aren't working. You're decompressing.
Sometimes you need to chill and talk to adults for longer than brief one minute periods. It's funny, time in class moves like molasses. Time after the last bell when you're talking with your friends moves at light speed. I think the kids feel the same way sometimes.

10. You actually laughed at any of the things on this list.
C'mon, at least torturing my students with "Friday" is funny, right?

What are your teaching or professional quirks?