The hardest most rewarding profession

Learning is hard work. People learn better when they feel valued and supported. To value and support learners, we must know them. We honor learners by caring for them as they are and simultaneously expecting more of them. People learn differently. Teaching is more effective and efficient when it matches learner need. Virtually all learners benefit when they learn in places with high instructional ceilings and lots of ways to climb to the top.

"If we allow ourselves to fall in love with what we do, we will be reborn countless times, almost always in a form stronger and more fully human than the one that preceded it."

The Simple, Hard Truth about Teaching

"What is essential in learners is difficult for teachers to see. Teachers accept responsibility for students about whom they genuinely care."

James Stronge defines effectiveness as creating a positive effect on student achievement as well as other important outcomes that have positive and lasting effects on the lives of students. He tells us that research says:

• Students consistently want teachers who respect them, listen to them, show empathy toward them, help them work out their problems, and become human by sharing their own lives and ideas with their students.
• Caring teachers who create relationships with their students enhance student learning.
• Effective teachers consistently emphasize that their love for their students is a key element in their success.
• Teachers who create a warm and supportive classroom environment tend to be more effective with all students.
• Caring teachers intentionally develop awareness of their students' cultures outside of school.
• Effective teachers spend a great deal of time working and interacting directly with students.
• High levels of teacher motivation relate to high levels of student achievment.
• Teachers' enthusiasm for learning and for their subject matter is an important factor in student motivation that, in turn, is closely linked with student achievement.
• Teachers whose students have high achievement rates consistently talk about the importance of reflection on their feelings.
• Effective teachers have a solid belief in their own efficacy and in holding high standards for students. This is common among reflective teachers.
• Effective teachers carefully establish classroom routines that enable them and their students to work flexibly and efficiently.
• Effective classroom managers increase student engagement and maximize use of each instructional moment.
• Effective teachers clearly identify learning goals and link them with activitites designed to ensure student mastery of the goals.
• Effective teachers use a variety of support systems to ensure student success.
• Effective teachers emphasize hands-on learning, conceptual understanding, and links with the world beyond the classroom.
• Effective teachers develop and call on a wide variety of instructional strategies proven successful with students of varying abilitites, backgrounds, and interests.
• Effective teachers set high expectations for themselves and their students with an orientation toward growth and improvement evident in the classroom.
• Effective teachers are more concerned with student understanding of meaning than memorization of facts.
• Students achieve at higher rates when instruction focuses on meaning conceptualization and builds on their knowledge of the world.
• Student engagement is higher when they take part in authentic activities linked to the content under study.
• Teachers in schools with high achievement rates pre-assess in order to do targeted teaching.
• Effective teachers know and understand their students in terms of abilities, achievement, learning preferences, and needs.
• Effective teachers reteach material to students who need additional help.
• Effective teachers use a variety of flexible grouping strategies to support student learning.
• Effective teachers demonstrate effectiveness with the full range of students in the classes.
• Effective teachers match instruction to learners' achievement needs.
• Effective teachers accept responsibility for student outcomes.

Differentiating with Hallmarks

Differentiation takes place when teachers strive to do whatever it takes to ensure that struggling  and advanced learners, students with different cultural backgrounds all grow as much as they possibly can everyday.

To have a differentiated classroom we begin where the students are, not where the curriculum guide tells us.  Learners differ in important ways, and we have to accept that we must be ready to engage students in instruction through different learning modalities, by appealing to different interests, and by using different varied rates of instruction.

There are 9 Hallmarks of a differentiated classroom. Differentiation is apparent when teachers have combinations of the following traits:

1. A strong link between assessment and instruction. In my future classroom, I will make sure that I pre-assess students before teaching important units so that I can ensure that I am meeting the needs of students individually, based on what they already know. By continually assessing throughout the school year, I can make adjustments to my lesson plans that will help, instead of hindering my students.

2. The teacher's own absolute clarity about what he or she wants the students to know, understand, and be able to do-about what is truly important to learn in this unit. I want to be a good teacher, so I want to ensure that I can determine what the students truly need to know, understand, and be able to do.

3. Shared responsibility for the classroom is between teacher and students, in the goal of making it work for everyone. In my ideal classroom, my students will contribute to the day to day functions of the "classroom family" and community. Students will learn to work together and learn the strengths and limits of their classmates.

4. Individual growth is emphasized as central to classroom success. I want to give goals to each student that will challenge them individually.  I will support and guide my students in all that they do.

5. A "way up", usually through multiple and varied pathways, and never a "way out." I will never teach down to a student. I will constantly cause learners to stretch and include opportunities for scaffolding that will help each child "up". I want to know my students well enough that I will give different learning options and pathways.

6. "Respectful" and engaging work for all students. I want all students to think at his own highest level in order to complete work. My students will know that the work they do is just as important and challenging as the work each classmate does.

7. Proactive thinking and planning for different pathways. I will plan in advance for differentiation. I want my students to succeed and not have "knee jerk" reactions to the needs that students have.

8. Flexible grouping. I will make sure my students have opportunities to work with many different groups within the classroom. This will help them to know that I will balance their needs with a wide range of purposes.

9. Flexible use of time, space, and materials. I will arrange my classroom in a way that will help students work in a variety of ways and formats. I will do my best to have lots of materials for readiness levels and interest categories.

Work is demanding and Scaffolded

We teachers understand that we must begin planning curriculum to ensure that work is important, focused, and engaging. We also know that each lesson should be scaffolded and challenging to ensure we maximize the potential for each learner.

Strategies for demanding and supported curriculum and instruction:

• Use tiered approaches.
• Incorporate complex instruction.
• Use a variety of rubrics to guide quality.
• Provide learning contracts at appropriate times.
• Aim high.
• Take a "no excuses" stance.
• Become computer savvy.
• Help students realize success is the result of effort.
• Use the New American Lecture Format.
• Designate a "keeper of the book."
• Try ThinkDots.
• Directly teach strategies for working successfully with text.
• Use think alouds.
• Use small group Instruction as a regular part of instructional cycles.
• Establish peer networks for learning.
• Promote language proficiency.
• Use weekend study buddies.
• Make peer-critique or peer-review sessions a regular feature.
• Cue and coach student responses.
• Team with resource specialists.

Curriculum and Instruction for Responding to Students Needs

"How the teacher guides teaching and learning will inevitably sculpt the learner's sense of self worth-and how the teacher directly and indirectly affects the student's sense of value will necessarily shape how the student learns"

Here are some strategies for important, focused, engaging curriculum and instruction:

• Focus student products around significant problems and issues.
• Use meaningful audiences
• Help students discover how ideas and skills are useful in the world.
• Provide choices that ensure focus.
• Look for fresh ways to present and explore ideas.
• Share your experiences and invite students to do the same. 

In teaching content, the teacher helps guide instruction by focusing on learning strategies that foster thinking skills in relation to the content. In connecting new information to what a student already knows, learning becomes more meaningful, and isn't just learned for test taking. To give one information is not difficult, but to help one be able to develop the tools to both know what information is relevant and to retain it is the most important tool for any teacher.

Curriculum and Instruction that are Demanding

Demanding curriculum and instruction means the teacher ensures that every student develops the habits of mind and attitudes, necessary for success in school and in life. Those include such things as working hard, concentrating, being curious, persisting, working independently, enjoying work, being open minded, and looking at ideas and issues from different perspectives.

These also ensure that each student experiences success as a result of hard work. When students believe they are capable of success, they are more likely to persist. When they believe the effort will not result in success, they are more likely to give up on the task. "When students become frustrated because a task is well beyond reach, they are likely to lose motivation and, in time, experience a decline in their level of achievement."

Curriculum and instruction techniques that are demanding include:
Guide students in working and thinking like experts
Place the level of difficulty of work just beyond the reach of the learner.
Make student growth nonnegotiable.
Establish high standards for work and behavior.
Eliminate "loose" time.

Great teachers ensure that learners extend their reach and succeed at new levels. Teachers should scaffold growth in many different ways. "We make sure students understand the learning goals and are aware of how each segment of their work contributes to their growth to achieving those goals. We use multiple modes of teaching and a wide range of teaching and learning strategies. We teach in small groups. We provide varied materials for students to gain access to ideas and information. We use varied groupings of students, we ask probing and clarifying questions. We help students develop effective study groups. We use vocabulary that helps learners develop awareness of how they are working and the ability to make adjustments in their work..."

When we focus our lessons on these things, we give students things to do, establish an environment that welcomes success. Students become inspired and encouraged to learn.

All of this shows us a couple of different Hallmarks. Hallmark 3: Shared responsibility for the classroom is between teacher and students, in the goal of making it work for everyone, Hallmark 4: Individual growth is emphasized as central to classroom success and Hallmark 5: A "way up" usually through multiple and varied pathways, and never a "way out."

Using Curriculum and Instruction to address Student Needs

"If the world is right, the teacher agrees to form that bond with the student. The agreement is the first step. It is the teacher's contract with the child to care intelligently, unyieldingly, and deeply about the individual's strengths and weaknesses, dreams and nightmares, uniqueness and commonality. The agreement responds with a pledge to bring investment, invitation, opportunity, persistence, and reflection to the time, place, and interactions that will bind together teacher and learner. It sets the tone for what is possible."

This quote completely resonated with me. These are the reasons teachers want to be teachers. This is also the reason why our jobs are scary.

Once we know what we will teach, our next job is to make sure we guide students toward a high level of competence and knowledge, understanding, and skill that has been deemed critical. We will pre-assess students to determine their group and individual strengths, weaknesses, understandings, and misconceptions.  There is no way we would be able to teach students effectively if we don't know what they already know. This brings us to the first Hallmark: A strong link between assessment and instruction. they are inseparably connected. The teacher pre-assesses student knowledge, understanding, and skill in both formal and informal ways.

Each lesson that we teach is to ensure that each student develops and extends their understanding. This brings us to the second Hallmark: The teacher's own absolute clarity about what he or she wants the students to know, understand, and be able to do. The clarity allows the teacher to focus on essential learning goals with all students, but at varying degrees of complexity.

So, what is it that makes the classroom and the lessons we teach magical? Engagement. We must deliver lessons to students in a way that is irresistible to our students. Some of the things that students are motivated by are: novelty, cultural significance, personal interest, personal relevance or passion, emotional connection, product focus, potential to make a contribution or link with something greater than self, and choice. This brings us to the sixth Hallmark: "Respectful" and engaging work for all students.

Great classrooms can grow from four general rules

1. We will show respect for people, their ideas, and their property.
2. We will work hard to ensure our own growth and to assist the growth of others.
3. We will persist, even when things are difficult and uncertain.
4. We will accept responsibility for the quality of our work and for our behaviors and actions.

Additional strategies that work well in the classroom are: letting students know that time is valuable, crafting a classroom where people work toward making sure each person gets what he or she needs to grow and develop, and teaching with intellectual challenge. It is also equally important that there are classroom routines.

Routines "take us out of the business of pulling puppet strings on a moment-by-moment basis in the classroom. Routines ensure that students understand how the class will begin and end, how to get and put away materials, how to keep records of their work, how to move around the classroom in acceptable ways, how to use time wisely, how to figure out where they should be and what they should be doing at a given time, where to put work when they finish, how to get help when their teacher is working directly with others, and so on."

Additional classroom routines include using visual cues, pre-establishing groups, using goal cards regularly, smooth transitions, support systems, and shared responsibility in the classroom.

"Learners watch to see if we try to build ties with them, if we are able to affirm them. They want to know if we'll help them build a place where their contributions are significant, acheive a sense of power in a very large world, realize a purpose in their school lives, and stretch them to they move toward their dreams."

More Rationale to Practice: The Classroom Environment

The classroom environment includes both physical and affective attributes that establishes the tone and atmosphere that will take place. Environment will "support or deter the student's quest for affirmation, contribution, power, purpose, and challenge in the classroom. Environment also will speak to the presence or absence of invitation and opportunity to each child individually and, ultimately, to the class as a whole. It will often be the first messenger of how learning will be in this place."

Some of the things to think about when arranging a classroom are:
walls
bulletin boards
furniture arrangement
materials
exhibits
learning tools
charts
posters

Additional strategies to build positive environments:
Study students' cultures
Commend creativity
Make room for all kinds of learners
Help students know about one another
Celebrate success.
Hold goal-setting conferences
Use dialogue journals
Incorporate teacher talk groups in lesson plans

Rationale to Practice

We must let learners know the following:

• We are here to help you find and develop abilities as individuals and as a class.
• Our goal is to help each person and our class become as capable as possible.
• That is is important goal, and the work we do to acheive it must be both important and challenging.
• The time we have to achieve our goal is valuable.
• Therefore, we have to figure out together how to work in the most effective and efficient ways we can.
• We'll need to learn about one another and ourselves, so we know where we need to go and how we're doing in getting there.
• We'll need to determine guidelines for working, so we can reach our goal, both individually and as a class.
• We'll need to figure out working routines that enable us to succeed in reaching our goals both individually and as a class.
• We'll need to develop support systems to ensure that we continually grow, both individually and as a class.
• Like all important goals, our goal will require investment and persistence.

It is also important that the students see these things in us as teachers. Each element of the classroom takes its shape from this, from both the students and the teacher.

How to Respond to Student's Needs

There are five ways in which a teacher can respond to the student's needs for affirmation, contribution, power, purpose, and challenge: the response of invitation, the response of opportunity, the response of investment, the response of persistence, and the response of reflection.

Response of Invitation
The invitation to learn is of prime importance. It must be issued as the learner first enters the learning place-and reissued continually. To issue the invitation, we as teachers needs to communicate the following :

• I respect who you are as well as who you can become.
• I want to know you.
• You are unique and valuable.
• I believe in you.
• I have time for you.
• I learn when I listen to you.
• This place is yours too.
• We need you here.

Response of Opportunity
As a teacher, I will do all I can to ensure that you will become all you should be. that means my goal is to provide you with maximum opportunities to develop your possibilities.

• I have important things for you to do here today.
• The things I ask you to do are worthy things.
• The things I ask you to do are often daunting.
• the things I ask you to do open new possibilities for you.
• The things I give you yo do here help you become all you can be.
• You have specific roles here that make us all more efficient and effective.

The Response of Investment
The surest way for a teacher to communicate to learners that they are important individually and collectively and that their work is compelling, is for the teacher to model high investment in both the people and content of the classroom.

• I work hard to make this place work for you.
• I work to make this place reflect you.
• I enjoy thinking about what we do here.
• I love to find new paths to success.
• It is my job to help you succeed.
• I am your partner in growth.
• I will do what it takes to ensure your growth.

Response of Persistence
The teacher needs to help students understand that this is a place where persistence is a hallmark. When a student is "missing the mark", the persistent teacher does not assume the student cannot learn, but rather assumes the student is not learning in the way he is currently being taught. the persistent teacher will find another way. in the eyes of that teacher, when a student fails, the teacher fails.

• You're growing, but you're not finished growing.
• When one route doesn't work, there are others we can find.
• Let's figure out what works best.
• There are no excuses here, but there is support.
• There is no finish line in learning.

Response of Reflection
Given the nature of the classroom and its inhabitants, young lives are always at risk. There is always a problem. The teacher who believes deeply in the dignity and worth of the individual and the group hears the echo, "failure is not an option."

• I watch you and listen to you carefully and systematically.
• I make sure to use what I learn to help you learn better.
• I try to see things through your eyes.
• I continually ask, "How is this partnership working?"
• I continually ask, "How can I make this better?"

Teacher Response to Student Needs

The main reason I chose to enter the teaching profession was pure selfish. I wanted to leave my own mark on the world. I wanted to leave the world different than it would have been if I had not been in it. Mostly because of my favorite quote in the world from the book Fahrenheit 451 which reads,

“Everyone must leave something behind when he dies, my grandfather said. A child or a book or a painting or a house or a wall built or a pair of shoes made. Or a garden planted. Something your hand touched some way so your soul has somewhere to go when you die, and when people look at that tree or that flower you planted, you're there. 

It doesn't matter what you do, he said, so long as you change something from the way it was before you touched it into something that's like you after you take your hands away. The difference between the man who just cuts lawns and a real gardener is in the touching, he said. The lawn-cutter might just as well not have been there at all; the gardener will be there a lifetime.” 

Although our language for the vision of teaching is fuzzy, we sense as novices that we are destined to be much more than dispensers of information, sergeants of behavior, and captains of test prep. Had we more sophistication, we would agree that classrooms are places designed to forge democracy, dignity, and diversity. We would affirm that schools exist to prepare young people to contribute to their world as informed thinkers, thoughtful citizens, and decent human beings.

Differentiation and Student Needs

Because students differ so greatly, the premise of differentiation is that while students have the same basic needs, those needs will manifest themselves in different ways; depending on the student's gender, culture, general life experiences, talents, interests, learning preferences, affective development, cognitive development, and support systems. The philosophy of of differentiation suggests the same classroom experience often affects different learners in different ways.

Effective differentiation begins with awareness and understanding of basic student needs. it progresses as teachers become more and more adept at understanding how those basic needs are manifested in the classroom and how those experiences meets a learners needs, or misses the mark for that learner.

Teaching asks us to do the impossible. It asks us to establish ties with each child-not to establish ties with all children as though they were one student. They are not. In the early stages of our teaching most of us do well to manage the students and cover the curriculum. There is no time, no energy, no skill for really even seeing, let alone connecting with individual students. If we elect to continue to develop professional expertise, we can get better and better at seeing and then at connecting with children individually.

The truth is, we will never really do all each child needs us to do. A simultaneous truth is that the first truth is no reason to stop trying.

While reading the last part of Chapter 2, I was able to reflect on my time in the classroom here in Peru. These students are so warm and open to having us in their class. I even thought about how awesome it would be to teach in a different country. But, there are so many cultural differences that it seems it would be overwhelming. It is normal here to yell at the students and to talk down to them. It is normal here for the students to depend solely on the teacher to teach them, and parents are not to get involved. It would be nice to have a small differentiation type meeting before doing a study abroad thing like this so we would know the exact expectations with the culture.

Students needs in the classroom

Children come to school early on in life, leaving their home life and play time and they follow their teacher's agenda. One in which the teacher feels is important. Some questions that go through the minds of the students are:

Will I be affirmed as a person here?
Is there a real contribution for me to make in this place?
Will what goes on here be purposeful to me?
Will it make me realize I have power within me?
Will I feel a satisfaction that comes from a challenge conquered?

These questions are posed by emotion instead of reason. There are five key needs of  learners that a student needs in order to invest deeply in school. They are affirmation, contribution, power, purpose, and challenge.

Children must be affirmed and know they are accepted in the classroom. They want to know they will be safe, people will listen to them, people will know how they are doing, and they want to know that their knowledge and interests will be acknowledged.

Each child needs to know that he or she is a nonnegotiable part of a classroom system with interdependent parts. The system needs that part for students to function effectively and vigorously.

Learners seek power in the classroom. They want to know that what they learn is useful to them, they can make choices that contribute to their success, they understand how the place operates and what is expected of them, and they want to know there is support they can depend on.

Purpose gives learners a sense of self-efficacy. Students ask why they have to do things because they have a drive to seek meaning. As students seek purpose, they realize that they understand what they do in the classroom, and that what they do reflects them and their world.

Learning is a sequence of challenges and their is something transforming about taking a risk to attain a goal that seems out of reach and discovering that we can extend our reach to to grasp what seemed elusive. If students do not take repeated risks, they may feel they may not grow. Challenge is highly personal. In the classroom students need to know that the work they are doing compliments their abilities, stretches them, that they are accountable for their own growth and contributing to the growth of others, and that they can accomplish things that they didn't believe were possible.

Traits of the Differentiated Classroom

 So, how do we start to create a differentiated classroom? How will we know we are doing it right?

There are 4 student traits that teachers must address to ensure effective learning; readiness, interest, learning profile, and affect.

Readiness refers to the students knowledge, understanding, and skill related to learning. Readiness varies over time, topic, and circumstance. This video shows a great example.

Interest refers to topics that create curiosity and intrigue. Schools create an atmosphere for students to realize new interests, to explore them, and to be engaged while doing so.  Here is an example.

Learning profile refer to how students learn best. These include learning style, intelligence, preference, culture, and gender. When students aren't given different ways to learn, they do not retain the information, as seen in this video.

Affect has to do with how students feel about themselves, their work, and their classroom as a whole. In the differentiated classroom, the teacher is receptive to the feelings and emotions of the students and if they are learning. We can see how these students feel in this video.

What is behind the idea of Differentiated Classrooms?

Children spend the majority of their waking hours in schools and classrooms. They are dependent on the adults who shape the experience in those schools and classrooms for the quality of each day spent there.

We must look at teaching, as a way to bring out the soul of the child. We aren't there to just teach them the concepts that they need. We are there to bring out the intellect and make that child's dream a reality.

The philosophy of differentiation proposes that what we bring to school as learners matters in how we learn. Therefore, to teach most effectively, teachers must take into account who they are teaching as well as what they are teaching.

Some of the reasons it is important to have a differentiated classroom:
the number of ELL's in classrooms across the country is increasing.
the achievement gap for minority learners-especially Native Americans, African Americans, and Hispanic students.
Special Ed students in the classroom has grown by 20%.
Gifted students may be losing motivation in the classroom.

What does a Differentiated Classroom Look like?

 Strong link between assessment and instruction. The teacher will pre-asses to find out where students are relative to upcoming knowledge, skill, and understanding.

The teacher is clear about learning goals.  The teacher specifies what students should know, understand, and be able to do for each unit of study.

The teacher groups students flexibly.  At times, the class works as a whole. At times, students work alone. Sometimes the students are grouped homogeneously or in mixed-readiness groups. The goal is to give the students opportunities to work together with a wide range of peers and in productive ways.

The teacher uses time, space, and materials flexibly. The teacher looks for ways to arrange the classroom to match materials to learner needs and to meet with students in varied formats.

The teacher involves her students in understanding the nature of the classroom and in making it work for everyone.

The teacher emphasizes individual growth as central to the success of the classroom.  The teacher works with students and parents to help them understand the importance of competing with oneself to achieve one's "personal best."

The teacher works to ensure that all students have respectful work. Every student should consistently have work that respects him or her as an individual. Each student is required to think at a high level to complete his or her work.

The teacher makes sure differentiation is always "a way up," never "a way out." The goal is to cause each learner to stretch to complete a task that is difficult but achievable.

The teacher sets her own sights high, just as she asks her students to set their sights high.

The teacher seeks specialists' active partnership in her classroom. The teacher is ready to call on the expertise of specialists whenever a student's needs indicate that would be helpful.

The teacher's differentiation is largely proactive rather than reactive. The teacher systematically plans for student differences. She does not make a single plan for all learners and "hope to adjust" on the spot if she realizes the plan is not working well for one or a few learners.

What does Differentiation Look Like?

We may not realize it, but we use differentiation on a daily basis. We change the way we act, talk, or react depending on the people we are around. If we are with close friends and had a hard day, we may vent or raise our voice. If we are at work and have a hard day, we may take a walk around the building, or escape to the bathroom to cry. We understand that it is important to change our behavior and thoughts to fit socially appropriate behavior and expectations. It is the same in the classroom.

Differentiated teaching is responsive teaching. It stems from a teacher's solid (and growing) understanding of how teaching and learning occur, and it responds to varied learners' needs for more structure and more independence, more practice or greater challenge, a more active or less active approach to learning, and so on. The goal is to maximize the capacity of each learner by teaching in ways that help all learners bridge gaps in understanding and skill and help each learner grow as much and as quickly as he or she can.

There is not a "right way" to differentiate instruction. The processes and practices vary with teacher expertise, the group of students in question, the time of the year, the subject area, age of students, and so on. Planning for differentiation must involve careful consideration of student characteristics, curricular elements, and instructional strategies.

It is important for us to get to know our students, their needs and their variety of interests. A good teacher continually assesses student readiness, interest, and learning profile. A good teacher also uses what they learn to modify and be challenging and satisfying for their learners.