Well leave it to me to forget what day it is and that I was supposed to have this done….better late than never I suppose!
When I read the negative cases in the Reconcilable Differences article I was embarrassed for the middle school teachers who organized their students into groups of Definitely, Maybe and No Hope for standards tests, but I felt even worse for their students. There will always be students who do really well in school, some that are mediocre and some that have great difficulty in learning and passing standards based tests. Having an attitude that some of your students have “no hope” is the worst attitude a teacher could have. I’m not saying a teacher should expect all his/her students to be perfect, but I think having the attitude that your students CAN and WILL learn(even a little) if you LEARN to differentiate instruction is a much better attitude. Like Carol Ann Tomlinson said, curriculum only tells us what to teach but differentiation tells us how. I think a big part of the “how” is attitude and willingness to accept that not all students are the same! (and that some are forgetful like me)