Remember this…

This poem Robert Fulghum by  is posted in our board office.  It reads

All I really need to know about how to live and what to do and how to be I learned in kindergarten. Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate school mountain, but there in the sand pile at school.

These are the things I learned:

• Share everything.
• Play fair.
• Don’t hit people.
• Put things back where you found them.
• Clean up your own mess.
• Don’t take things that aren’t yours.
• Say you’re sorry when you hurt somebody.
• Wash your hands before you eat.
• Flush.
• Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.
• Live a balanced life – learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some.
• Take a nap every afternoon.
• When you go out in the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands and stick together.
• Be aware of wonder. Remember the little seed in the Styrofoam cup: the roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that.
• Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in the Styrofoam cup – they all die. So do we.
• And then remember the Dick-and-Jane books and the first word you learned – the biggest word of all – LOOK.Everything you need to know is in there somewhere. The Golden Rule and love and basic sanitation. Ecology and politics and equality and sane living.Take any one of those items and extrapolate it into sophisticated adult terms and apply it to your family life or your work or government or your world and it holds true and clear and firm. Think what a better world it would be if we all – the whole world – had cookies and milk at about 3 o’clock in the afternoon and then lay down with our blankies for a nap. Or if all governments had as a basic policy to always put things back where they found them and to clean up their own mess.

  And it is still true, no matter how old you are, when you go out in the world, it is best to hold hands and stick together.

Having looked at this poem again through the lens of LEARNING and our work around the Conditions for Learning, I am even more certain that the Early Years are leading the way in teaching us about how deep learning occurs.  For the next several weeks, let’s spotlight, analyze and engage in some discourse around some of the key concepts in the Early Years work, what they mean, and how they actually apply to ALL learning!

1. Our Image of the Child…as capable, competent, curious and capable of complex thought (Mindset).

2. Purposeful Play and Inquiry as a form of Play (Collaboration, Responsive Instruction) and Authentically Wondering  (Risk Taking, Responsive Instruction) from K-3…and beyond!!!

3.  Self-Regulation (Collaboration)

4.  Growth Mindset

5.  Pedagogical Documentation (Responsive Instruction)

6.  Learning About Communication, Reading,Writing and Oral Language…and  Learning to Communicate through Reading, Writing, Oral Language  (Responsive Instruction)

7. Positive School Climate and Sense of Belonging (Relationships, Risk Taking, Collaboration, Responsive Instruction)

8.  The Importance of Transitions and Partnerships (Relationships)

9.  Parental Engagement (Relationships, Collaboration)

 All I Really Need to Know About Learning, I Learned in the Early Years…

What are you learning about learning by visiting your Kindergarten classrooms?  And how are you seeing this beyond the Kindergarten classrooms?

Until next week…

Below is the response to last week’s posting from Kathleen.  It is a response that I wanted everyone to take some time to access…so here it is this week!  Thanks to Kathleen for this thinking.  

After reading, Nicki’s blog post last week, the part that stuck out to me was the wondering from the educator around how to possibly meet the needs of every learner…and seeing that as the need to plan for every student, and then just this past weekend the following article “Differentiation Doesn’t Work” was posted to Facebook by a teacher friend, and it made me wonder about the meaning or connotation that may have developed around that word. The article can be found at:
http://mobile.edweek.org/c.jsp?cid=25919951&bcid=25919991&rssid=25919981&item=http%3a%2f%2fapi.edweek.org%2fv1%2few%2f%3fuuid%3dAB17D0EA-9105-11E4-A978-DBAAB3743667&query=differentiation

The article references ‘differentiation’ as a failure, a farce, and the ultimate educational joke played on countless educators and students. The author notes that is shouldn’t be complicating teacher’s work (and that I do agree with). When the author references differentiation being harder than juggling with one arm, it makes me wonder again if that is because of what we believe the notion of differentiation to be. I think the author is on to something near the end when he talks about understanding what/how we are differentiating – the curriculum or instructional methods or both…

Over the last two days I have been fortunate to participate in Early Learning sessions, and we had great conversation around the notion of learning TO do something and learning ABOUT something….and the need for both of them to be merged together, and it helped be to further reflect on the article and wonder if maybe that balance has been missing when it comes to understanding the notion of differentiation? We know that the work being done in the Early Years is helping us to redefine ‘school’ with the belief that kids are more capable then we first understood.

We know that here are many ways to differentiate – by task, which involves setting different tasks for pupils of different abilities; differentiation by support, which means giving more help to certain pupils within the group; and differentiation by outcome, which involves setting more ‘open’ tasks and allowing pupil response at different levels; be resources, allowing pupils to access information at their own level, by questioning, to allow you to target purposeful questions at specific pupils…and I’m sure there is many more…

I’m not sure how the author sees differentiation as working only if we return to the days when similar abilities were placed in classes with other students whose learning needs paralleled their own…as what would then be differentiated??

It brought me back around to the importance of our Conditions for Learning and the work we are doing around mindset and the viewpoints of our students around their sense of belonging, and how maybe one of the reasons why educators struggle with differentiation is because they are still ‘teaching to’ students instead of ‘learning with them’?

During my travel I often listen to podcasts, and the two I listened to (will mention below) on my trips this week helped me to reflect even further on the article….(I find that reading and hearing things that create tension help me to reflect on things and try to make connections).

After listening to the podcasts, it became even more clearer, that one of the reasons differentiation may be difficult is because it relies on the need for us to understand ‘who’ our learners are and what their strengths are, as well as the trajectory of learning they are to be on. A lot of it comes back to planning, and understanding what our long term goals are for the students and helping them to understand the goals and see the purpose/relevance to them, and then to understand where they are and working with them to set smaller goals, helping them to see that they are capable of success and believing in them that they can and will be able to obtain the larger goal….that differentiation is just ‘student-centred leadership’.

The podcasts are from ASCD and the first was titled: Believing in Students So They Believe in Themselves and can be found at:
http://www.wholechildeducation.org/podcast/believing-in-students-so-they-believe-in-themselves

In it educators shared responses to “what is the difference you are trying to make?” and “how do you know you’ve made a difference?” Themes emerged around creating environments so that all kids would want to be in school and enjoy learning,helping students discover their strengths/passions and who they are as learners getting students to believe in themselves – their ability and believing that is ok to fail meeting students where they are – not as a challenge but as an opportunity for growth…having students realize their own potential

They talk about giving up control in the classroom, one of the speakers makes a good comparison to coaching, comparing it to what a practice looks like, and how to teach in the classroom they same way that you coach – that it is at times a very noisy, collaborative, chaotic environment, where the learners are doing different things but working towards the same goal; that when you give up the control and invite a little chaos in, that’s where learning begins.

They reference how student focused learning environments can make a difference; that it’s the content and the process – the relationships…. and the importance of interpersonal skills and how they are all interrelated; the importance of a healthy environment, putting the onus on the student, that they are part of the environment/part of the community. And the importance of having every student believe in themselves and have high expectations, and that expectancy begins with having relationships… the need to help them establish short term goals so that they can see their success over time, so they can believe that they can get to the long term goal.

The second podcast (also from ASCD): Is Resilience the Secret to Student Success
(http://www.wholechildeducation.org/podcast/is-resilience-the-secret-to-student-success )
is also relevant here, especially after hearing George speak to us last week. It also notes the importance of our belief system and how it should reflect that all students are capable and competent, hence we should be able to differentiate and “create, provide, support and sustain environments that nurture the development of children”. That it all starts with a ‘mindset’ approach, the importance for all to believe in the capacity of all individuals.

They also state that resilience is a philosophy… a process that should be integrated across all content areas, ..it’s not what we do, but the manner in which we do it… They note that it is tied to the sense of belonging one has and how that sense of belonging becomes the underpinning of resilience, and how the classroom becomes one of the most powerful sources of belonging in a child’s life….

They reference Bonnie Benard….that all individuals have needs…………..love, power, belonging… and identify her three protective factors: caring relationships, high expectations, and opportunities for participation and contribution. That when these factors are found together in an environment it leads to the development of personal strengths, which led to life success and outcomes…and that it all begins with the adult having positive beliefs in the child.

So (to make a long post short…..) it all made me think about how does differentiation link to students’ sense of belonging and to resiliency…and to growth mindset?…all are a process and are very closely related to each other, as are our conditions for learning and more importantly the need for conversations around these topics so that we are being responsive and meeting the needs of our learners so that we can help them to move forward. It also made me think about the following quotes:
“If children are given the chance to believe they’re worth something—if they truly believe that—they will insist upon it” (Maya Angelou).

“Every child is gifted – they just unpack their packages at different times.”

And then when Wiggins posted a response to the rant in the blog Differentiation Doesn’t Work, Kathleen added to her response (and if you follow Twitter, you will not only see the response from Wiggins, but from MANY who refuse the “rant” blog…

I just have to add on the following link…. I apologize for making it even longer – or for giving you yet one more link to check out…but Mr. Grant Wiggins (if you don’t yet follow his blogs…you should 🙂 posted tonight a reply to and a rant to the article: Differentiation Doesn’t Work… click on the link to access his ‘rant’ 🙂

https://grantwiggins.wordpress.com/2015/01/15/on-differentiation-a-reply-to-a-rant-and-a-posing-of-questions/

…my gut told me from the beginning that Mr. DeLisle’s viewpoint didn’t have much merit… but I wasn’t aware of the names or had yet taken the time to check out his references…I am so grateful to see that Mr. Wiggins has taken it on and am sooo looking forward to his next posts where he plans to pursue some of the questions at the end…and I’d love to see if Education Week posts or responds to his post 🙂

Thoughts?

Until next week…thanks for replying! 

Recall this graphic from the Leadership Learning Team sessions from last year? (you may want to click on the link as the graphic is small!)

Click to access CompexityofInstructionK-12.pdf

The graphic is called The Complexity of Instruction and can be found in the Edugains site. Consider the components illustrated in the graphic; each of which are important to responsive instruction.

• Learning Environment (the Third Teacher Monograph!)
• Pedagogical Content Knowledge (Knowledge of the learner, curriculum and program within and across subject disciplines)
• Assessment and Evaluation (Assessment Framework, Evaluation based upon observations, conversations and products)
• Design for Learning (universal design for learning and understanding how learning happens)
• Instructional Strategies (engaging, strategic, based on where the learners need to go)
• Inquiry Stance (Evidence-informed thinking about the current state, the ideal state, how to bridge the gap, and how to gauge progress along the way; and seeking feedback on impact of teaching to inform next steps)
• Differentiated Response (know and respond to the learner’s needs)

What is important for us to recognize, as a district, is that each of these components have been the focus for our learning over the past number of years.  This graphic allows us to see/reminds us how these pieces are connected; which in turn helps us to see that we are all working on the same overall goal.  It does sometimes feel as though we have many different foci – seeing how the pieces are connected is vital to our individual and collective efficacy.

Much interest was generated last week about Differentiated Instruction so I began to review the many materials that are contained on the Edugains website.  Below is the definition which we likely all know.

However, it is the HOW of differentiated instruction that many asked about/talked about last week – there is a feeling that we know what it is, but the actual practice is the area where we are at different stages of implementation and where we have questions.

So what does differentiation look like and sound like in a responsive classroom? There are four key features of DI  (again, noting the alignment between the “Things to Consider” for Responsive Instruction as one of our Conditions for Learning)

1.  Choice

– Choices are a response to ongoing assessment.  Note that this isn’t just in summative assessment – choice is embedded throughout the teaching and learning/assessment for learning cycle.

– Choices are carefully constructed so that they all  address the same curriculum expectations, take about the same amount of time and require all students to work at their current level of readiness.

– Students are taught to make good choices based on their strengths and needs.

– It is far more important to offer a few high-quality choices than to provide lots of choices.  Offering too many choices is time consuming for the teacher and may overwhelm/confuse students.

2.  Respectful Tasks

– All students work on the same curriculum expectations, skills and learning goals with varying degrees of support.  – Tasks for all groups are interesting and engaging.

– Tasks are respectful when struggling students are engaged in learning opportunities that are just as interesting and appealing as those of other students.

3. Flexible Groupings

– Students have a chance to work with various groups; sometimes by interest, sometimes by readiness and sometimes by learning preferences.

– DI does not mean “ability grouping” which can lead to stigma.  For example a student may be in a low readiness group because they have little prior knowledge about a topic – not because they have limited ability. Some participants, although gifted in many areas, could be in a low readiness groups for downhill skiing.

4. Shared Responsibility for Learning

– Students who know how they learn best and how they are progressing towards a learning  goal are prepared to take more responsibility for their learning

– Students are active in self-assessment, goal setting and co constructing criteria for assessment and evaluation.  – Students learn how to make good choices that will help them learn and demonstrate their learning best

We know that Ricci (2013) in Mindsets in the Classroom provides us with a Teacher Checklist for Planning Differentiated, Responsive Instruction that includes the following (note that for clarification on some of the terms that she uses, please see chapter 3 of her book):

• Determine skills, content, concepts, or procedures being assessed and develop or use school/district preassessments.
• Develop anchor activities related to the unit.
• Present preview (2-5 minutes) to activate background knowledge prior to preassessment.
• Students take preassessment.
• Analyze preassessments:  determine areas already mastered, any gaps that may exist, and areas of need for each student.
• Identify students who would benefit from curriculum compacting and plan instruction for the areas of need.
• Identify any students who have complete understanding and are ready for another learning outcome.  Plan for enrichment and topic/content acceleration for these students.
• Form instructional groups –model anchor activity expectations if necessary and share the group rotation for the day. Teacher will instruct each group every day. Plan for a few minutes between groups to respond to any questions from students, make sure everyone is on the right track, and praise effort students are putting forth.
• Administer formative assessment daily.  Use the information to inform instruction for students as well reflection for the teacher.  If understanding is not evident with most students, reteach in a new way.  Student movement among groups may occur based upon the formative assessments.
• Summative assessments, performance tasks, and products (as well as homework) must be differentiated based on the instruction for each group.

Mary Cay Ricci (2013) Mindsets in the Classroom,  pg 54

Remember this resource (on Edugains as well as in all of our schools)…which contains many examples, tools and resources to support DI…

Now consider the School Effectiveness Framework Components –  especially #4 Curriculum, Teaching and Learning.  Indicator 4.5 Instruction and assessment are differentiated in response to student strengths, needs and prior learning. 

How are we using these tools to inform the conversations that occur as part of our School Learning Plan processes around responsive instruction?  

Can these resources be used as a guide for us in engaging in our self-assessment conversations of responsive, differentiated instruction?  

How can we return to some of these resources to help us to make even deeper connections between our work (and the many terms and jargon that may cause deep meaning to be compromised), and to continue to become increasingly responsive through differentiated instruction?  

This is a complex piece however I know that it is critical to ensuring that everyone sees the alignment and connection between all of the components of our work. I am looking forward to your responses…especially those who we haven’t heard from in a while! Take a risk!

Until next week…

Responsive Instruction is one of Our Conditions for Learning that has received tremendous attention; it is evident in most of our School Learning Plans and is part of regular improvement conversations. As such, it is a Condition that many people are beginning to understand in a deeper way.  Recall below, the success criteria for Responsive Instruction, as well as the Things to Consider:

Responsive Instruction
I know I am providing responsive instruction if I am collecting a continuum of data (to show progression), towards an identified goal and my responses are reflective of the learner’s strengths/needs.

Things to Consider

•  Learner’s basic needs are met
•  Need to know the learner (educator)
•  Clear Goals linked to the curriculum
   Success Criteria
   Self – Assessment is embedded into learning/task
   Multiple opportunities for feedback
   Checking and Developing a Common Understanding
   Exemplar Use
   Multiple Entry Points
   Scaffolding
   Gradual Release of Responsibility
   Diagnostic Testing
   Activation of prior learning
   Engaging
   Different Opportunities using various learning styles
   Challenges learners at different levels
   Learner “see” themselves reflected in the learning
   Seeing a purpose – meaningful, real-world connections
   What is being learned is developmentally appropriate
   Flexible groupings
   Planning is foundation to an assessment for learning culture (need for content knowledge)
   Learners need to be accepted at the level where they are at
   Developmentally appropriate goals
   Opportunities to share and reflect
   Self-regulation

We need to be careful that we aren’t distracted by the notion that “learner’s basic needs are being met (which is our first Thing to Consider); while we know that students need to have basic needs met in order to engage in any type of learning, I would argue that this isn’t what we are discussing in this Condition for Learning – we cannot forget that we are speaking about responsive instruction.  

This week, I would like to suggest that we review this initial thinking in light of the work of Mary Cay Ricci (2013) from Chapter 3 in Mindsets in the Classroom: Building a Culture of Success and Student Achievement in Schools.  In this chapter, entitled “Why is a Differentiated, Responsive Classroom Important to A Growth Mindset Culture?”  Ricci (2013) states, “The mindset of a teacher contributes greatly to his or her responsiveness to the needs of students.  If an educator views a child through a deficit lens, then that child will not be given opportunities to grow unless she is in a responsive classroom” (pg. 31). She defines the deficit lens as that which is impacted by our deep rooted beliefs about intelligence and how it is developed or what factors impact its development. “I would argue that it is not possible to plan and facilitate an effective, differentiated, responsive classroom if an educator does not really possess the belief that intelligence can develop” (pg. 32).  This statement supports our Board Learning Plan SMART goal around the continuous growth in our efficacy towards learning – that possessing and acting with a growth mindset is critical to the success of our students.

Note that Ricci uses the term “differentiated”  alongside the term “responsive”. As I read this, I began to truly make the connection between several of our “things to consider” for responsive instruction (multiple entry points, scaffolding, different opportunities using various learning styles, challenges learners at different levels, learners need to be accepted at the level at which they are at …although I am not sure that I completely understand this consideration as all students can learn…) and Ricci’s statement that “Differentiation is responsive instruction…differentiation is the way a teacher responds to student’s need” (pg 32).  As a district, the concept of differentiated instruction was looked at deeply at least 7 years ago which makes me wonder where we are in our understanding.

Recently an educator wondered out loud how they can possibly meet the needs of every learner in their classroom – it is feeling like a mountain to climb in terms of planning for each student! Sound familiar? Ricci suggests that this is possible with the use of responsive instruction structures including diagnostic assessments, accessing background knowledge and flexible groupings; each of which are contained within our Things to Consider. She also discusses the nature of formative assessment, curriculum compacting, management, and summative assessments.   Contained in this chapter is a Teacher Checklist for Planning Differentiated, Responsive Instruction on page 54. As you can see from this brief description, much of this chapter connects to the work that many of you are engaged in…your copy of the book is currently waiting for you in my office!

This chapter taught me that we are on the right track to achieving a culture of responsive instruction with our focus on assessment for and as learning. As we continue to develop our understanding of how to promote and act with a growth mindset within our responsive instruction (tools, tasks, conversations, assessments, etc), a greater impact will be achieved – which will ensure that our students truly see learning as a process that they can be successful in.  After reading this chapter, I am wondering about the following responsive instructional practices in terms of how I see them promoting a growth mindset in our learners:

• How we structure learning so that we engage in effective diagnostic assessments (after we have activated some background knowledge according to Ricci)?
• When does differentiation occur? (throughout the formative process as well as the summative)
• Do we optimize time and engagement in learning through the use of “anchor activities” – ongoing tasks that students can engage in to enrich their knowledge and understanding of the current topics being studied to allow the teacher to work with groups of students (pg.44)
• Is formative assessment seen as a “reflective tool for a teacher” (pg 47) that helps to determine their next instructional steps for small groups of students?
• Are all summative assessment grades based upon the mastery of learning that was tailored for the specific student?

What are your thoughts?

Until next week…