Differentiation Notes

A few months ago a team of teachers at my school decided that 9th grade English should be detracked. I have been behind this idea since the moment I started. Yes, it will take work. Yes, I have fears about what others will do with it in our department. In order to get working on the process, I read Integrating: Differentiated Instruction + Understanding by Design. Since I have the knowledge of UbD, I thought this would be a great choice. On top of that, it was suggested by others at my site.

I need a place to keep some bullet points from the book. I thought this would be a great place.

Chapter 1:
"Simply put, quality classrooms evolve around powerful knowledge that works for each student."
"Evidence of student understanding is revealed when students apply (transfer) knowledge in authentic contexts." This is key to our development of DI on our campus because we need to know what is authentic for 9th grade English.
"Differentiated instruction is a way of thinking, not a formula or recipe."

Chapter 2:
"It is difficult to imagine someone becoming a great teacher without persistent attention to that element of the art of teaching."
"...human beings are varied and complex...failure to attend to that requirement is likely to result in failure of the teaching enterprise for many, if not all, students."
"...students should always be in the forefront of our thinking as we make, implement, and reflect on our professional plans."
"In all classrooms, it is important for teachers to ask, "Can I afford to sacrifice student trust and buy-in, growth, motivation, or efficiency of learning.""
"Differentiation does not advocate "individualization.""

Chapter 5:
Authentic work vs. Inauthentic Work
Authentic: conducting research, debating, conducting investigation, solving "real world" problem, interpreting, purposeful writing for audience outside of class
Inauthentic: fill in blank, multiple choice, recalling, solving contrived problems, diagramming
"As a means of creating more authentic performance of understanding, we recommend that teachers frame assessment tasks with...GRASPS. In other words, inlcude1) a real world goal, 2) a meaningful role for the student, 3) a contextualized situation that involve real-world application, 5) student-generated products and performances, and 6) consensus-driven performance standards (criteria) for judging success."

Chapter 6:
"...sometimes the teacher must work with one group of students while others work independently. Sometimes the teacher must distribute and collect more than one set of materials. Sometimes the teacher must give assignments for more than one task taking place in the classroom simultaneously - and so on."

Chapter 7:
" Whereas facts can be memorized and skills developed through drill and practice, coming to an understanding of "big ideas" requires students to construct meaning for themselves."
"although the teacher or textbook can proclaim it, few students will comprehend its meaning without some active intellectual work, guided by the teacher."
"Teachers are expected to stimulate thought, show examples and counterexamples, ask probing questions, set up authentic applications, play devil's advocate, check for understanding, and require explanation and justification."
"Teaching for understanding includes effective whole-class, small-group, and individual approaches."
"A variety of methods - including problem based learning, scientific experimentation, historical investigation, Socratic seminar, research projects, problem solving, concept attainment, simulations, debates, and producing authentic products and performances - have proven effective at provoking inquiry and engaging a range of students with content." I just want to point out the lack of project based learning which is not authentic at all since so many teachers create ridiculous projects that have no meaning.

Chapter 8:
"In other words, a grade should represent a definable degree of proficiency related to important goals. Thus, educators should establish indicators of success, describe the criteria by which they will measure success, measure students accordingly, and report the results in a clear and consistent manner."
"Grades should not be influenced by whether students forget to put their names on their papers or whether they have lovely penmanship. that is, insofar as possible, we need to eliminate factors and conditions that interfere with our students' capacity to demonstrate what they have come to know, understand, and be able to do. A grade should give as clear a measure as possible of the best a student can do, not be enshrouded in a fog created by tangential or constraining forces."
"The meaning of a grade is compromised when it reports a student's achievement relative to others in the class."
"Grading and assessment are not synonymous terms."
There is an entire section on how grades should not be averages because it is not fair if at the end of six weeks a student has complete understanding of a standard, but after the first two weeks had no understanding. the grade should reflect the final understandings. Averages are not good when it comes to grading. Zeros should also not factor in. The grade should not hinge on product, rather understanding. If the understanding can not be graded due to lack of work, then the student needs to give up time and complete that work. I though that citizenship would be a great place to indicate that a student didn't turn assignments in on time.
"In norm-based grading systems, struggling students are virtually doomed to live at the bottom of the grading heap."
Grades should be broken into 3 factors: achievement of goals, progress towards goals, and work habits. I was thinking that for English it would more than that: achievement of writing, reading, and speaking goals, progress in those 3 areas, and work habits as a citizenship grade.

Communication

While I do many things on my campus, I do not manage the Seminar program for GATE kids. I do not want to manage the Seminar program. I simply teach the students. However, our 9th grade counselors seem to think that since I teach the 9th grade seminar course, I should manage the program. Due to this error on their behalf, there has become a bigger communication error. The parents do not know who to talk to. It makes life difficult when I request that the counselors forward any questions to the person who does manage the program, and they continue to contact me. While this issue is small in the bigger scheme of life, it is one of those issues that make teaching something others love to claim is unprofessional.

Beyond those issues, I sat in a wonderful GATE Teir II certification course on Saturday. I learned about Lateral Thinking, Abductive Thinking, and Problem Based Learning in great depth. I am excited. I have ordered the following books and can not wait to receive them from Amazon.com.
   

Today is a Glorious Day in the Classroom

As the post title suggests, it was a glorious day in the classroom. I felt re-energized by the students.

The 9th grade seminar kids had to physicalize Hamlet's "Too Too Solid Flesh" monologue. The acting troupes were awesome. They put their time, effort, and creativity to work. Hopefully I can post their video soon. Not only that, the students after performing, admitted that they understood the speech more than they had the first time they read it. They were able to answer the following questions with in depth thought: What does Hamlet think about his mother at this point? How does Hamlet feel in general? Why does he say he needs to hold his tongue? The idea of subtext is coming through and the relationship he has with his mother and uncle are clear to the students. Tonight they need to evaluate Polonius's family and compare it to Hamlet's. I wonder what they will discover.

My ESL kids are also doing great. Igor, from Brazil, is such an awesome kid. I love having him in class. He helps to inspire the others. Now that that the class is divided into two groups, I can see the growth happening with my ESL kids that need more language practice. Also, the other group, now that they have been accelerated, are also dong great things and having great discussions about persuasive text.

Yes, there are 2 more periods in the day, but I will be working on data and organizing Link Leaders. Ugh. The day begins to dim. What to do with the Link Leaders. I need to have a meeting with them.