Differentiation quotes:
Students will learn best when they can make a connection between the curriculum and their interests and life experiences.
Students will learn best when learning opportunities are natural.
Standard-based teaching quotes:
Are we using standards as a curriculum, or are they reflected in the curriculum?
Does our use of standards remind us that we are teaching human beings, or does it cause us to forget that fact?
Reconciliation:
At this point, I am not convinced that differentiation instruction and standard-based teaching can be reconciled. It was a downer to me when standard-based teaching was introduced in class. Here I was learning all about differentiated learning and I began to process all of the wonderful ways that I could incorporate this information into my classroom and then I was blind-sided with standard-based teaching. To me, as long as we are required to teach based on standards, then our hands are tied in regards to creativity within the classroom.
Tomlinson, when speaking on differentiation, says “Students will learn best when learning opportunities are natural.” Forcing standardization onto the teachers, in turn forces standardization on to the students. This does not seem very natural to me. She also states that “Students will learn best when they can make connection between the curriculum and their interests and life experiences.” To have the time to teach in a way that encompasses a student’s interest and life experience, a teacher would have to be able to spend a large amount of her/his planning time and classroom time implementing differentiated instruction. If this were to happen, where would the standard-based teaching fit?
We do need to look at whether we are using standards as a curriculum or are the standards reflected in the curriculum. This is a point to which Tomlinson also eludes. Maybe it is just up to us to find creative ways to hide standardization within our curriculum instead of making it what our curriculum is all about.
We certainly do not want to forget the fact that we are teaching human beings. By being forced to implement standards-based learning, it feels like we are not only making the students robots but, we are turning our teachers (ourselves) into robots, as well. What next? Will the “powers that be” create standardized lesson plans? If that happens, they will only need robots to teach because all creativity and differentiation will truly be gone.
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3 comments:
Tina,
I've seen some of the teacher's editions of textbooks-and some of them are so scripted you could say that yes, they already do have standardized lesson plans. The upside is that substitute teachers can use the books and feel much more confident about the material they're covering or if you're the regular teacher and you are not feeling well on a particular day, you can still get through your lessons.
i dont think that the standards turn us into robots. i think that if we do not learn to work with the standards, that is when we turn into something ugly. half the examples in that article show that teachers can use the standards to their advantage and good things can come out of them. if we look at all of these things negativly, the only result we can expect is a negative one. we have to find a way to meet in the middle, and we also need to kick the government out of our (teachers) business.
Your frustration is felt by many teachers, Tina. I think the real problem lies not in the standards, per se, but in the interpretation/implementation process. Jenny's right: "we have to find a way to meet in the middle, and we also need to kick the government out of our (teachers) business."
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