Monday, February 20, 2012
Blog #3 Due February 23rd
I hope that as you were reading chapters two and three, you had specific
students pop into your mind. Look over the questions again and think about a
student you have either taught in the past or presently teach. Write a short
blog about how differentiation either met or did not meet their needs and the
implication of this.
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In thinking about how differentiation has or has not met the needs of my students, I reflected back to the previous blog and the Thompson article which stated that "heterogeneous cooperative learning does not offer a sufficient differentiated program for gifted children." Jaliyah popped into my mind right away. She is my gifted/talented student that currently participates in the SPACE program. I feel that the heterogeneous classroom is not challenging her the way she needs to be challenged. Yes, she knows she is smart. She enjoys participating, asks thoughtful questions, always does her work, and enjoys helping her peers. But, I feel that I have to spend so much time with lower achieving students that when she is done, she is just reading independently or goes on the computer, but is not being pushed to that next level. No, she never complains or acts bored, but I know that she could do more and wants to do more if I had more time to spend with her. Often it seems that the brightest students are, in a way, left to "teach themselves" because we know that they will pass the test and don't need extra attention from us to understand the content we are required to teach.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, I can look at Ionna and say that differentiation in the classroom has really helped her to reach her potential. She is a below level reader who receives daily PALS tutoring and does have an IEP for "collaborative English" but stays in the classroom. She has really made progress this year by working in small groups. She enjoys having the higher achieving students help her at stations, but can also help those who are lower achieving than her. She is very outgoing and personable and likes that interaction with her peers, and so she has really blossomed this year and is making improvements academically.
My goal is that I will be able to see the same growth that I see in Ionna, in all my students, and meet each student's needs to the best of my ability. Whether they are ESL, EE, or T/G, I want them to feel valued and that they contribute to the classroom and have a purpose.
In reading chapters 2 and 3 I thought of two different students. I first thought of my below grade level learners. These students receive a multitude of differentiated instruction throughout the day and from various teachers. The students read below grade level text (leveled readers that came with our Basal Reader). They also receive services from our Reading Specialist daily. But I have seen these students come to me on a middle second grade reading level (I teach 3rd) fail every 9 Weeks Benchmark Test then work very hard during SOL review and pass the Reading SOL at the end of the year. I feel like these students are getting exactly what they need through differentiation.
ReplyDeleteThe second group of students I thought about were my Gifted and Talented students. I started thinking of the resources that I have for them. I do have an above level reader that came with our Basal Reader but that tends to still be too low for my TAG students. I have personally bought chapter books through Scholastic to use with them but that was with my own money (we do not have a book room at my school). We do have a TAG teacher but we share her with another school and she is only at our school 3 days a week. Students see her for only 30 minutes on the day she is here. I do not feel like we have the resources available to us that the below grade level students have. I also feel like differentiation doesn’t meet the needs of these students because teachers are not using differentiation with these students. I think one of the main reasons they are not using it is because of lack of resources to differentiation the instruction. I also think too many educators believe in the they will “just get it” mindset
The implication of not meeting the needs of our learners is big. We have discussed many ways TAG learners can be harmed by not being challenged by their work. For me personally I just want to see all my learners have a great year in my classroom and learn as much as they can with me.
After reading these two chapters, several students and/or groups of students pop into my head. I thought about my first official GT cluster. These folks were smart and challenged me to be on my toes. The vast majority of these students were either identified gifted or were simply bright enough to fit right in. I did have one young lady who was far below the rest. I chose to teach this class completely different from my other history classes. We did activities that required higher level thinking through the creation of projects using a variety of technologies. It was so much fun. I learned so much and it was a real eye-opening experience for me. One day, that young lady came up to me and asked if she was in a group of really smart kids because she didn’t feel like she did well at all. She said she felt behind all the time and just didn’t understand. This was toward the end of the year too. For almost an entire school year, I had managed to leave this child behind and make her feel inadequate. She didn’t have the affirmation she needed, she didn’t feel as if she contributed and probably felt alienated. Following this experience, I chose to focus on better differentiating so that I could better meet the needs of all students, not just the GT kids.
ReplyDeleteOn the flip side, I had a situation where a male student was constantly causing trouble. He was a behavior problem. Mom said it was because he was bored. She said the class was too easy and not challenging enough. I decided to go out on a limb and create an independent study where the child would be working in the library as opposed to doing the normal activities in my class. The independent study would require intense reading, writing and reflecting. The child went from an A to a D in a nine week period. He had been so used to making A’s doing very little work. When confronted with an opportunity that was challenging, he forgot how to work hard at something. He asked to come back to class after a while.
I have learned over the past 5 years that differentiation is something you have to constantly work at. One activity created one year, might not be the activity that suits the needs of a group of students to following year. Just like to book states, it has to be based off of students’ needs and every student is different.
I thought of one student in particular. He was recently (finally) identified GT, but he was also identified ED. In first grade he was already far ahead of his friends in the gifted cluster class he was placed in. Even though the class was made up of "high" students, his intellectual abilities are way beyond his peers. Though the teacher was good, her personality and style were not a good fit. He needs adults in his life that are firm with him while still giving him space to be himself. He tends to go too far if there aren't firm boundaries. Because of this he can be a handful if he is in a class with a more "montessori" approach to discipline. He spent most of first grade in the office, so the gifted cluster class didn't matter . In second grade he was placed in a more heterogeneous class with a teacher who not only "got" him, she appreciated him and his personality. Though she was very firm with him, he felt like he belonged and was safe. He had earned a reputation in first grade and had begun to buy into it, but she stood up for him and helped others understand him and cope with his behaviors. He thrived in this class even though it was made up of students of every ability. The teacher knew how to challenge him academically and provided choice in activities when appropriate. Currently he is in third grade (with his identifications), but the emphasis is solely on the ED label. He spends his days in the Special Ed room with students who are two years older than he, but two grade levels behind him. He draws and plays video or computer games while waiting for his classmates to complete their work. He complains about how slow the others are and how easy the math (his favorite subject) is. I asked him recently when he thinks he might do something in math he doesn't already know and he said "decimals". He needs to be challenged, but the "differentiation" in his current classroom is only addressing the learning differences among the lowest students. He has so much to offer and so much potential, but I feel like we are wasting his time and even worse, his mind.
ReplyDeleteThere were several students who popped into my mind as I read these two chapters and reflected on the questions. Working toward a fully differentiated classroom is a goal of mine, as I truly believe that is the way to most successfully engage, motivate, and fulfill the potential of each student. I get excited discovering new ways to challenge my students. I have come to feel that this is a big part of the invitation section of the teacher “cog”. Choices in activities, students discovering information on their own and then teaching the rest of the class, product related assessments, and similar methods get most students “up and going” in the process of their education. There are a few, however, who do not respond positively to this school environment. Each year, there is a student or two who feels overwhelmed by the projects, the group work, and the product assessments. They have actually said that they want to go back to a “regular” classroom, and learn through work-sheets. One child said it would be easier to learn that way. When a child begins to show that they feel this way, I always meet with them, and their parents, to modify work so they won’t feel frustration; try to ease them into the rigor of the program. Sometimes, the parents do not understand the importance of differentiation, and I don’t always succeed in getting them to understand. I really need to become a better advocate for teaching this way. The implication of this reflection for me is to work even harder to get to know my students, and to make sure that I am not offering a “one size fits all” invitation.
ReplyDeleteAs I read these two chapters I thought of many students, GT and otherwise. One particular student really stuck out and I ended up thinking about him the whole time I was reading. He was a spec. ed student, had a pretty severe reading disability and decoding issue and was self-contained for much of third grade. When he came to me in fourth grade it was brought to my attention that while he was a good-hearted boy, he often had angry outbursts when frustrated, which could turn violent. This made me so nervous! But I made it my job to welcome him into my classroom and convey to him on day 1 that this was a safe place and that I was here for him and WE were going to work hard together each day. He was still self-contained for reading, but as the year went on I saw him gaining confidence, start participating more, and asking to even try and read things aloud during class discussions. He was learning that his reading issue was one that he needed to continually tackle, and this was a safe environment for that. This confidence transformed him, and we saw such amazing gains in the reading classroom as well. By 5th grade, I felt he was ready to be pushed a bit farther, and he flourished with this. I began expecting him to participate in more ways and to do reading homework as well (which made him feel such huge sense of affirmation and challenge, and shockingly, he LOVED). By the middle of 5th grade, his sped teacher and I agreed he was ready to enter my classroom for collaborative reading. This was one of the most amazing moments as a teacher, because he was SO unbelievably proud and excited, I will never forget that look on his face (or how many times he thanked me or told me his was excited). In this student’s case, I was able to fulfill his needs completely, and when that happened in that perfect way, the sky was the limit.
ReplyDeleteI also thought a lot about looping. One of the most amazing benefits of looping is that personal relationship piece. While we get to know each other sometimes a little too well, this is a monumental component and is such an amazing feeling, to know that you know each student so well! It makes it much easier to give them exactly what they need and makes differentiation that much easier.
In reading chapters two and three, I had a few students pop in my head, along with thinking about me now as a teacher, as well as thinking of me as a student years ago. Being a Title I school, much emphasis is on the “struggling student”, on students who come from low socio-economic backgrounds, broken families, language barriers, etc. In my five years I have seen great parent involvement, to no parent involvement whatsoever. And it is always the no parent involvement children that tug on my heart strings. These students come to me without the background knowledge, without the enrichment or exposure to art, the beach, simple task of tying shoes or playing games. I have quickly learned that teaching is not just about the academics, but the life skills, the development into a citizen, the everyday basics. When you realize these components it makes a realness in your profession. You realize you need to get to know your students. You need to understand what life has been like this far in their life. You have to be willing to go the extra mile with them. You must have an invitation for each child and instill a warm, safe, environment, where the child is respected and welcomed to be themselves, to explore and discover. You must provide opportunity and be invested. If you instill motivation there will be a drive in the students, if you as a teacher have motivation there will b e a drive in you. A drive will encourage a teacher to make opportunities happen regardless of time constraints, “politics” of teaching, ceiling of limitations due to SOLs, etc. One of my students is obsessed with dinosaurs. She has dreams of being a Paleontologist. She knows more than I do about them. Are dinosaurs a first grade SOL? Not even close. Am I going to hinder her passion? Not a chance. I allow her to explore her love in books she reads, through the internet, in her writing. I can’t necessarily teach dinosaurs. But am I going to let her write throughout the year about her love? Yes. Am I going to find ways of connecting with her? Yes. I find dinosaur things to put in my treasure box, find books during reading group that may incorporate a dinosaur, go to the Salvation Army to find books to add to my library, thinking of dinosaurs. I am connecting with her and her passion. In return she enjoys school, she appears comfortable, and she seems to feel respected and valued. I’m not sure why this came to me as an example. But I wanted to emphasize the importance of knowing your students beyond the curriculum, and the amazing affects in return for them as a student.
ReplyDeleteFor me, the teachers that always stood out from my childhood, were the ones who always let me explore, get my hands dirty, put on a different hat, mess up, work on my own for solve an answer, let me discover, let me be creative. In fourth grade I had a teacher Mrs. Hauley, who was new to our school and the area, and had a different way of teaching. She was a tough cookie, and very stern, and had expectations out the roof for each of us. She graded hard, and I can remember my mom getting upset a time or two because my perfect grades weren’t always so perfect. My mom didn’t get mad at me, but instead my teacher. Because to my mom she was different, she didn’t teach the way my previous teachers taught, etc. But little did I know, what was unfolding in her room was amazing. She had her room decorated like the rain forest. She had all kinds of nooks and spots, all science related. We always did activities or experiments, hands-on. That year I internalized things more differently because for the first time in my life they were taught to me differently. I am not sure where she is now, but she was definitely before her time, and had a “new-age” approach to teaching. I cannot remember another teacher in all my school years that was every like her. And here I thought she was just weird, sometimes almost crazy. No! She was innovative!
DeleteDifferentiation does not differ solely in the work you give a child, but in the ways you get to know them, your empathy for each child as an individual, your realness with them, your approaches to teaching, whether it be through small groups, hands-on, modeling, etc. At my level kids are not aware of which learning style best suits them. So my job is exposure to all learning styles. To observe which types of learning styles is effective, which kinds are scary, and which kinds are struggling. Differentiation takes on many meanings I think in the K-2 world. But I think it all stems to the simple question: As a teacher, is your heart really in it? Are you connected to your profession and your kids? Is it more than just a job? Because in our profession it has to be all these for any of implementations in these two chapters to unfold, and meet our students’ needs.
Wow! Kimberly, that was poetic...and a bit of a tear jerker.
DeleteAs I am learning more about differentiation, I think I differentiation more than I think. I have students who are very good in math and some not so good. Of course, few high school students actually read their textbooks. So, I give them a cloze, which is the text of a section with salient work removed. The give the cloze as a homework assignment first and then give them the answers with the assignment is due. I give the cloze as a short quiz during the following class. I have found some student who make good grades on tests make much lower grades on the cloze and some lower achieving students on tests make 100 on the cloze. I think I am tapping into a preferred learning style with the cloze.
ReplyDeleteAs I read chapters 2 and 3 I found myself reflecting on my years of teaching and even my own experience as a learner in school. Being that I teacher special education I differentiate often for my students. I am skilled at looking at the curriculum, taking where my students are currently performing and making steps to get them where they need to be. Often people dismiss the SPED kids as needing more time and not knowing as much. I see the SPED kids differently. I push them in ways they have not been pushed. I know they are often capable of more than they are giving out to their teachers. See I was and am a SPED kid. I had a pretty sever disability in reading; today I would probably be labeled dyslectic. I still have some trouble in reading, but am able to compensate for my difficulty in reading and spelling. I remember in school feeling dumb because I took longer to read things, especially out loud!! I hated being pulled out and felt like I missed so much by leaving the classroom. But I was also bright. I always had an ease with math and science. I just got those subjects and enjoyed learning everything I could about them. My comprehension was great and I understood complex things, I just had trouble reading fluently and spelling (all the decoding related stuff). Back then there was little differentiation. The gifted kids left for their cool and fun activities, while the rest of the class had to stay and work. The SPED kids left to their other classrooms. Both the SPED and GT students didn’t really get what they needed (at least at my schools). My resource teacher (Mrs. Evans) I had all elementary school really helped me. She connected with me and my family like no other teacher I have ever had. She really care and gave me confidence to do well in my regular classroom. By the time I was in 5th grade I needed very little. She had effectively taught me how to fit in with my peers and compensate for my disability. In 6th grade I was released from SPED. I still had some trouble and dreaded tests!! But I was out! I felt less dumb, but hid the fact I had trouble. None of my friends knew I struggled with reading and spelling. I did well in school, but my disability still effected how well I tested. When I graduated high school I almost did not go to college because of the SATs. I was scared to death to take them. Every other time I took a standardized test I felt dumber than I knew I was. I did not test well. I found my way to community college, then 4 year university, then a master’s degree. I had graduated with honors and am a member of an honor society (finally…after hoping all through high school, but never being ‘smart’ enough) I have actually spoken with my teacher several times as I went through school. She is still a good friend of my moms. I thank my lucky stars I had Mrs. Evans to help me connect to who I am as a learner.
ReplyDeleteMy personal experiences as a student affect me as a teacher. As a teacher I aspire to connect with my students to help them believe in themselves. One child comes to mind when I think of who I connected with. My first year teaching I taught at a title I middle school. I was the special education teacher on a collab team. We had a heterogeneous mix of students from high achievers to lower SPED kiddos. In our math class we also had GT kids who were not ready for the advanced math because they were only GT in reading (yeah they could have handled the more rigor in math too). I loved my kids and team. I had one student in particular who caught my attention. This young man was very bright. He knew so much information, and what he didn’t know he would look up. He was also ED and had ADHD. I cultivated a relationship with him of respect and understanding. He knew he could come talk to me about anything. I often had to differentiate for him because he moved quickly through material. I would look up extra information for him to feed is curiosity. I often moved our lessons a set or so beyond the class for him. Let him know that I knew he was bright and could do the work. His home life was not easy and he did not think very highly of himself at the beginning of the school year. At the end of the year I recommended him for GT. He needed more rigor and challenge. This child who once thought he couldn’t do much in school finally knew someone believed in him and thought he was special. He did get into GT and is officially my first Twice Exceptional child I taught. I often wonder how he is doing. I can only hope he continued to grow as a learner.
DeleteLast year I was given all the students with IEP’s. Along with this, came a full time aide. I felt very overwhelmed getting to know each of my students’ special needs and struggled to stay afloat. I was trying to meet all the goals of the IEP’s as well as my general education students. One of these students was extremely high and probably had the kindergarten curriculum mastered within the first two months. I tried very hard to give her the challenges she needed, but never felt like it was enough. My full time aide was great and we worked well together. I also had a special education teacher to collab with during science/social studies sols. This was where it felt so overwhelming- I always felt so behind because when I had planning, there was someone in my room, so the time was wasted away talking about social activities or happenings. My aide always wanted to help but, most of the time I just needed some quiet time to think things through. It always seemed that my breaks were used up by phone calls or office visits. My only saving grace last year was losing 3 of those students to different schools. I always learn so much from these students, but it takes a lot out of you every day.
ReplyDeleteIn blog 2 , I mentioned a specific gifted student that came to mind, the third grader that I had one year that could have taught much of my class. I’ve had a handful of highly gifted students over the years that I feel the same about- I feel like I was not able to meet their all of needs. With the time constraints, the focus on struggling learners, and lack of resources, it has been really tough as a classroom teacher to meet their needs. I find that teaching kindergarten allows me to differentiate for the needs of the higher and lower learners because of the center-based structure in the classroom and since our curriculum is so basic, the sky is the limit when it come to extending learning, you just need to set aside the time to plan for and actually implement it. I guess that is the challenge for all teachers when it comes to any kind of differentiation. I also think about the social and emotional piece of the puzzle, because all students need to feel safe and gifted learners are no exception. One shy student I had last year comes to mind, and I took a lot of extra time with her not only reading and doing algebra (yes algebra) but also providing opportunities for her to develop socially and make friends. She truly thrived in both capacities her kindergarten year because I took the time to get to know her on a personal level and fulfilled the promise to make her feel safe and loved, as well as providing the mental stimulation she required to grow as a learner. There is another highly intelligent student in another class I see playing alone on the playground each day this year who is very similar to this student I had last year, and my heart breaks for her a little each day because her needs are not being met in the same way in her classroom. This is where our system lets these kids down. There needs to be more resources for that student, or for the teacher, to provide for her and all of our exceptional kiddos. We have some, and dedicated teachers do all they can, and truly make strides with these students, but imagine the possibilities if the funding and support were in place.
ReplyDelete