This is the last in a series of blog posts for the #CyberPD16
book study on DIY Literacy, Teaching Tools for Differentiation, Rigor and
Independence by Kate Roberts and Maggie Beattie Roberts. This post
will address chapters 5 & 6. You can read my previous posts here and here.
Chapter 5 is all about differentiation. Kate and Maggie ask, "How can you make sure your teaching matches your kids"
(p. 71) so that your relationships with
students are not compromised? In other words, how can we sustain high-level teaching
practices that generate vitality for us and
for our students? To me, these are powerful questions since teachers' energy
level in the classroom is often derailed due to a myriad other demands
out of a teachers' sphere of control.
In order to provide some perspective on this
issue, Kate and Maggie make an analogy between the scaffolding provided by yoga
instructors and the role classroom teachers can play to address students' individual needs. The authors describe the yoga tools (folded
blankets while sitting to ease movement, blocks for keeping the body stable
during certain positions, or ropes for stretching) used by instructors to
allow all students to access the instruction provided.
As reading and writing teachers we need to make similar
supports (tools and strategies) available to our students so that they can
access the instruction we provide. The yoga students choose from a variety of
tools offered by their yoga instructor in order to perform challenging poses
with the goal of eventually discarding these tools altogether. According to
Kate and Maggie, "By giving students the tools they need, the instructor
is helping the students to differentiate for themselves. It is no longer
necessary for him to observe and directly teach each student in order for them
to make progress," (p. 72).
It is our responsibility to provide a range of
supports (tools) in the classroom to our students so that they can learn how to
use them to further their learning. These supports or teaching
tools (repertoire and process charts, demonstration notebooks,
bookmarks and micro-progressions) assist students as they continue on their individualized
learning path. One-on-one conferences or small group instruction then become a
place for teachers to elevate student learning beyond what they are currently able to do alone. The instructional
tools allow students to proceed along their learning path preventing them from becoming
stagnant or bored as they wait for us to instruct them further. In a sense, teaching
tools serve the role of surrogate teachers leading our students towards greater
and greater independence.
In the remainder of this chapter, Maggie and Kate
describe several lessons that illustrate the main intent of this chapter: how to
differentiate instruction for our students without creating 20, or more,
different lesson plans. Teaching tools provide just-in-time support as students read and write freeing us up to address our students’ individual
needs. The tools are stand-in teachers that students learn to use to enhance
and support their learning. However, they are not meant to replace the teacher
or to serve as props that hold up students temporarily or indefinitely. Consequently, it is
important to continuously observe and confer with students to help them determine
when they have internalized these strategies and don't need the concrete,
visual support any longer.
In chapter 6, Maggie and Kate remind us that the
purpose of these teaching tools is to address the multiple dilemmas associated with helping students remember what
we teach them so that they can use it intentionally. By making instruction and tools vigorous (rigorous) enough
to meet the individual needs of our students, teachers are able to address the issue of
how to differentiate so that all students are able to
access the instruction we provide at a level that is appropriate for them.
Maggie and Kate encourage us to use the
following approaches to preserve the novelty of and interest in teaching
tools for our students:
- Pop culture – references to sports,
music, video game characters
- Metaphors, such as comparing the
writer's revision process to how a gamer revises (p. 91)
- Keeping charts and other tools
fresh by moving them to high traffic areas or simply taking them down when
they are no longer being used independently by students
- Soliciting student feedback as to
the usefulness or placement of the tools
- Co-creating teaching tools, as a
class, in a small group or one-on-one with students
The authors also provide words of encouragement
and tips to those of us (me!) who feel challenged as artists and therefore may hold
back from creating charts and other instructional tools. For example, they
suggest selecting color combinations that can be used repeatedly for charts,
such as always using black for titles. They also offer ideas for how to use space effectively
on a chart by making the writing BIG so it's visible from all points in the
classroom; using simple icons over and over again to minimize the amount of text on
charts; using capital letters if your handwriting is sloppy or illegible; asking
for help from other teachers; and finally, ‘embracing our inner Picasso’.
Although the ins and outs of creating charts may
seem trivial, it is something that has previously held me back from using
charts extensively and effectively as a teaching tool. I worry too much about how they look and
fluctuate between creating them any old way and taking too long to do them in
front of my students. Both of these approaches end up defeating my purpose,
which is to create a tool that students will use and refer to as needed. In the
end, I have often given up despite having observed my
students struggle to apply a lesson because they can’t remember what we did and have no visual cues to help them.
Thanks, Kate and Maggie, for taking painstaking
care to write this book. I will keep it close as I continue to make plans for
the new school year. Thank you to the #CyberPD16 group - administrators and
participants, alike - for making this a memorable book study.
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