Leading and Managing a Differentiated Classroom

Carol Ann Tomlinson Ann Tomlinson, Marcia B. Imbeau

• Editore: ASCD
• Anno: 2010
• ISBN:
  9781416613336
• Argomento: Bildung
• Categoria: Bildung Allgemein

Today's teachers are responsible for a greater variety of learners with a greater diversity of needs than ever before. When you add in the ever-changing dynamics of technology and current events, the complexity of both students' and teachers' lives grows exponentially. Far too few teachers, however, successfully teach the whole class with the individual student in mind.

In Leading and Managing a Differentiated Classroom, Carol Ann Tomlinson and Marcia B. Imbeau tackle the issue of how to address student differences thoughtfully and proactively. The first half of the book focuses on what it means for a teacher to effectively lead a differentiated classroom. Readers will learn how to be more confident and effective leaders for and in student-focused and responsive classrooms.

The second half of the book focuses on the mechanics of managing a differentiated classroom. A teacher who has the best intentions, a dynamic curriculum, and plans for differentiation cannot—and will not—move forward unless he or she is at ease with translating those ideas into classroom practice. In other words, teachers who are uncomfortable with flexible classroom management will not differentiate instruction, even if they understand it, accept the need for it, and can plan for it.

Tomlinson and Imbeau argue that the inherent interdependence of leading and managing a differentiated classroom is at the very heart of 21st-century education. This essential guide to differentiation also includes a helpful teacher's toolkit of activities and teaching strategies that will help any teacher expand his or her capacity to make room for and work tirelessly on behalf of every student.

Part 1
Leading a Differentiated Classroom

The teacher's overriding moral purpose is to meet the needs of students, even when it conflicts with personal preferences.
—Lorna Earle, Assessment as Learning

A chorus of voices—representative of experts in virtually every aspect of education—continually asserts that current ideas about "how to do school" are inadequate both as a reflection of our current knowledge of teaching and learning and as a means to address the learning needs of an increasingly diverse student population. In terms of incorporating contemporary knowledge of how people learn into the classroom, experts make the analogy that we're settling for a Model-T Ford instead of drawing on 21st century automotive engineering.

More to the point, the old images of effective classrooms are anachronistic in terms of today's students and their needs. Not only do learners compose an increasingly diverse group, but they are also young people who live in a world of personalization—at least outside of school. They are accustomed to watching a particular television show when it's convenient rather than when it's broadcast. They no longer buy entire albums to "own" a particular song but rather download just the selections they like. They order computers specifically designed for their needs. They get news on demand and information they need when they need it. In school, however, we teach them as though their variance in readiness, individual interests, and particular approaches to learning were of no consequence. It is becoming increasingly difficult to pretend that batch processing of a vastly diverse student population supports them as learners or that we are preparing them for productive citizenship in a world with complexities, uncertainties, and challenges that demand the very best from each of them.

Consider the following excerpts from five current key educational documents in the United States. The first comes from the Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (INTASC) Standards and reflects professional consensus about what new teachers should know and be able to do, regardless of their specialty areas. The second comes from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards—the body that provides the framework for National Board certification of top teachers in the United States. The third through fifth excerpts come from the National Association for the Education of Young Children, the National Middle School Association, and the National Association of Secondary School Principals. This collection represents the sweep of professional expectations for teachers—novice to expert and preschool through high school—and the message is clear and consistent: Student differences matter and effective teachers attend to those differences thoughtfully and proactively.

Some expectations for new teachers

The candidate:

• Designs instruction appropriate to students' stages of development, learning styles, strengths, and needs.
• Selects approaches that provide opportunities for different performance modes.
• Accesses appropriate services or resources to meet exceptional learning needs when needed.
• Adjusts instruction to accommodate the learning differences or needs of students (time and circumstance of work, tasks assigned, communication and response modes).
• Uses knowledge of different cultural contexts within the community (socio-economic, ethnic, cultural) and connects with the learner through types of interaction and assignments.
• Creates a learning community that respects individual differences.
• Assumes different roles in the instructional process (instructor, facilitator, coach, audience) to accommodate content, purpose, and learner needs. (INTASC, 1992)

Some criteria for recognition as a National Board Certified Teacher

• National Board Certified Teachers (NBCTs) are dedicated to making knowledge accessible to all students. They believe all students can learn.
• They treat students equitably. They recognize the individual differences that distinguish their students from one another and they take account of these differences in their practice.
• They respect the cultural and family differences students bring to their classroom.
• NBCTs know how to assess the progress of individual students as well as the class as a whole. (National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, 2010)

Some expectations for early childhood educators

The face of America is rapidly changing. In three states, European-Americans are no longer the majority group. U.S. babies born today will reach adulthood in a country in which no one ethnic group predominates. By the year 2005, children and adolescents of color will represent 40% of all U.S. school children. The largest proportion of individuals with disabilities is found in the preschool population. Thus, tomorrow's early childhood teachers must be prepared to serve and to value a far more diverse group of young children and families than at any time in the past. (National Association for the Education of Young Children, 2001)

• Development and learning proceed at varying rates from child to child, as well as at uneven rates across different areas of a child's individual functioning. Individual variation has at least two dimensions: the inevitable variability around the typical or normative course of development and the uniqueness of each child as an individual. Children's development follows individual patterns and timing; children also vary in temperament, personality, and aptitudes, as well as in what they learn in their family and within the social and cultural context or contexts that shape their experience.
• All children have their own strengths, needs, and interests. Given the enormous variation among children of the same chronological age, a child's age is only a crude index of developmental abilities and interests. For children who have special learning needs or abilities, additional efforts and resources may be necessary to optimize their development and learning. The same is true when children's prior experiences do not give them the knowledge and skills they need to thrive in a specific learning environment. Given this normal range of variation, decisions about curriculum, teaching, and interactions with children should be as individualized as possible. Rigid expectations of group norms do not reflect what is known about real differences in development and learning. At the same time, having high expectations for all children is essential, as is using the strategies and providing the resources necessary to help them meet these expectations.
• To be effective, teachers must get to know each child in the group well. They do this using a variety of methods—such as observation, clinical interview (an extended dialogue in which the adult seeks to discern the child's concepts or strategies), examination of children's work, individual child assessments, and talking with families. From the information and insights gathered, teachers make plans and adjustments to promote each child's individual development and learning as fully as possible. Developmental variation among children is the norm, and any one child's progress also will vary across domains and disciplines, contexts, and time.
• Children differ in many other respects, too—including in their strengths, interests, and preferences; personalities and approaches to learning; and knowledge, skills, and abilities based on prior experiences. Children may also have special learning needs; sometimes these have been diagnosed and sometimes they have not. Among the factors that teachers need to consider as they seek to optimize a child's school adjustment and learning are circumstances such as living in poverty or homelessness, having to move frequently, and other challenging situations. Responding to each child as an individual is fundamental to developmentally appropriate practice. (National Association for the Education of Young Children, 2009)

Some descriptors of quality middle school teachers

• Teaching and learning approaches should accommodate the diverse skills, abilities, and prior knowledge of young adolescents; cultivate multiple intelligences; draw upon students' individual learning styles; and utilize digital tools. When learning experiences capitalize on students' cultural, experiential, and personal backgrounds, new concepts are built on knowledge students already possess.
• Continuous, authentic, and appropriate assessment measures, including both formative and summative ones, provide evidence about every student's learning progress. Such information helps students, teachers, and family members select immediate learning goals and plan further education. (National Middle School Association, 2010)

Some guidelines for high school teachers

It is inconvenient that no two students are exactly alike and that no individual student stays exactly the same over her or his travel through the high school years. [However,] batch processing does not work, at least for most adolescents. Personalization is a necessity. … While our students differ in wonderful (and sometimes exasperating) ways, we serve them well by taking a "core mission" and playing it out in teaching and learning that reflects each student's strengths and weaknesses, learning styles, and special needs. The mission has to be lean and focused; the necessarily rich variety emerges from individual students' interests, abilities, and weaknesses, as these wax and wane over time. It requires that each student be known well. Student "anonymity" has been the most consistent criticism of America's high schools. It must end, whatever it takes. (National Association of Secondary School Principals, 2004)

• Many reports have been issued in the past few years that reveal deep problems with the achievement levels of U.S. high school students as compared to international students. There is also a significant achievement gap along race and income lines as well as low graduation and college attendance rates for low income and minorities. More often than not, these low rates can be traced back to the large numbers of students entering high schools reading below grade level. The vast majority of high schools, to a great degree, have a climate of anonymity where little focus is placed on identifying the personal learning needs of individual students and using such information to foster improved teaching and learning.
• To be fully committed to high school reform, we must systemically reculture and improve the high school. The historical structure and purpose of the U.S. high school is no longer adequate to serve the needs of all of the nation's youth and provide them with the skills necessary to compete in the global marketplace of the 21st century. Significant improvement is needed, but such improvement can only be attained through a substantial change in the structure and culture of the high school. We recommend this be accomplished through support for
  • Increased academic rigor that reflects the integration of curriculum, instruction, and assessment.
  • Personalized instruction and learning that is based on the academic needs of individual students.
  • Schoolwide initiatives to improve reading and writing literacy skills. (National Association of Secondary School Principals, 2005)

These voices—which represent the best thinking in our profession—tell us unequivocally that student differences do matter and that quality teaching makes room for these differences. Yet, despite the consistent and often urgent calls for teachers to attend to individual learners' needs, and in spite of daily evidence that one-size-fits-all instruction fails many, if not most, students, it is extraordinarily difficult for us to pull away from antiquated conceptions and embrace more contemporary and effective ways of thinking about teaching and learning. There are many reasons why the idea of teaching with the individual in mind is challenging (if not confounding), not the least of which are classroom images that are indelible in the minds of teachers, students, and parents alike.

These familiar images and impressions have become second nature to so many of us because they are continually reinforced throughout our young lives. We all think we know the right way "to do school." Even very young children who play school at home know the rules: The "teacher" is in charge and the "students" sit silently in straight rows and watch the teacher, who tells the students what to learn. Students learn what they're told and repeat it back to the teacher. The teacher teaches everyone alike (which is only fair), and students who can't follow the rules or get restless with the routine get booted "out of class."

While this description may sound like a caricature of an actual classroom, it represents a set of beliefs about teaching and learning that are deeply embedded in most people. Whether we are teachers, parents, or students, these beliefs are a common set of blueprints for thinking about the right way "to do school"; it is difficult to conceive of the classroom in any other way. Nevertheless, if we aspire to teach so that our students are prepared to assume leadership roles in a world that is quite different from the factory-based era that the current model of schooling was designed to serve, learner-focused change is not an option, but an imperative.

Classroom Teachers as Leaders for Change

Responsibility for supporting change toward student-focused instruction belongs to many kinds of educators. Superintendents, principals, curriculum coordinators, specialists, grade-level coordinators, department chairs, media directors, and counselors are some of the educational players who have pivotal roles to play in recrafting classrooms so that they more effectively teach the diverse learners that populate them. This job is vastly easier when everyone works as a team toward a shared goal, and it is unacceptable for anyone in the chain to abdicate his or her responsibility to make school work for each student who enters the door. Nonetheless, the role of the classroom teacher in bringing about such change is central. No one else is as vital. If every other educator fails to assume the responsibility of leadership for student-focused change, the classroom teacher still has the power to reenvision and reinvent teaching and learning.

It is the classroom teacher who has an unspoken contract with each learner to make productive use of time spent in the classroom. It is the classroom teacher who is in a unique position to see beyond multilayered distractions and disguises to know each learner as an individual human being. It is the classroom teacher who identifies or creates the links that exist between each individual learner and the critical content. It is the classroom teacher who taps into hidden motivations, builds bridges to span damaged trust, and reveals to each student how the learning process makes us fully human. Quite simply, the classroom teacher is an irreplaceable leader in moving differentiation from an abstract idea on paper or in a professional development session to a fundamental way of life in the classroom.

This book will highlight four different audiences for which teacher leadership is essential to make student-focused instruction a reality. First, teachers must do the daily work of motivating themselves to plan and implement instruction that keeps students in the foreground and of primary concern. Second, teachers must motivate, lead, and direct students to understand, contribute to, and participate in a classroom that is designed to take into account the needs of individuals and the group. Third, teachers need to lead parents to understand the goals of a student-focused or responsive classroom, how those goals will benefit their children, and how they can contribute to the success of their children and of the classroom. Finally, teachers can be important leaders for other teachers and for school administrators in understanding and contributing intelligently to academically responsive instruction.

Successful teachers are natural leaders. Along the way, we manage the details necessary to achieve goals that we have every reason to believe will benefit those who follow us. Genuine leadership indicates an ethical orientation—one that merits the trust of followers. To achieve such a level of leadership, we must

• Work from and aspire to an objective that is an improvement over the status quo.
• Articulate this vision so that those who are asked to follow have a compelling reason to do so.
• Move knowledgeably toward this vision while simultaneously attending to the voices and needs of those who will necessarily help enact it.
• Be patient with and supportive of followers, yet impatient with artificial barriers to progress.
• Maintain a pace that consistently ensures visible progress without pushing the system beyond its capacity to change.
• Monitor outcomes of the change and be willing to adapt, when necessary, to achieve desirable outcomes and eliminate undesirable outcomes.

Teacher Leadership for Differentiated Classrooms

The three chapters in Part I of this book are designed to help teachers be more confident and effective leaders for and in student-focused/responsive/differentiated classrooms. We do not presume that these chapters contain all there is to know about the topics they address. We are aware that each chapter provides, at best, an overview of a much more complex issue. We also know that individuals who invest their energies in any approach continue to transform and augment that approach. Our goal, then, is not to present the final word in regard to teacher leadership for differentiation but rather offer a framework for an intelligent beginning.

In our experience, teachers who are most effective with differentiation operate from strong (and growing) knowledge bases that are rooted in a philosophy of what classrooms could be like if they maximized the capacity of each learner. These teachers invite learners to help them construct such a classroom and to attend to its health as the academic year progresses. For these teachers, differentiation is not a set of strategies but rather a demographically necessary, ethically focused, pedagogically informed, and empirically tested way of thinking about the work they do.

Effective leaders are knowledgeable about and continue to nurture their knowledge of the area(s) in which they seek to lead. Chapter 1 reviews the elements of differentiated instruction for teachers who want to lead toward differentiation. Effective leaders work from a philosophy or belief system that informs the vision they commend to others. Chapter 2 articulates the philosophy that undergirds what we call "differentiation" so that teachers who seek to lead toward differentiation are grounded in their own views on teaching. Leaders engage followers in understanding and contributing to a shared vision. Chapter 3 provides suggestions for talking with students, parents, and other educators about differentiation so that teacher leaders can confidently invite them to participate in creating a place and processes that benefit the broadest possible array of learners. Chapters in the second half of the book focus on managing a differentiated classroom—a task made much easier and more reasoned when the teacher is first a leader for differentiation.

Chapter 1
Understanding Differentiation in Order to Lead: Aiming for Fidelity to a Model

Few would argue that opportunity in life is strongly connected with educational opportunity. However, we have often misconstrued the notion of equal access to education to mean that all students should receive precisely the same pacing, resources, and instruction. The result is a one-size-fits-all educ...