Differentiation. It is a buzz word in the classroom. It is the new wave, and a non-negotiable in our classrooms. I don't have a problem with that. All of my kids have different needs, both academically and socially. I can't "teach toward the middle." I prefer to work by groups instead of stand in front of the room, I gotta get down and roll around in the mess; it is a dirty job, but someone has gotta do it. Yes, this means many late nights, and constant logistics analysis. I have to plan and at the same time, be ready to scrap my plans if I something happens in an instant. At those moments, I have to ignore the demands of the "coaches" and administration who don't seem to care what I do until something goes wrong, and do what I know is best. I have to scrap the plan, and rustle up Larry, Bill, Mark, and Chad, and "break down math" or rally Agnes Pearl, Esther Marie, and Lucy to "make reading plain and simple." Sometimes it calls for drastic measures, both research proven and sometimes, well, not so much, but a little psychology 101, but so far it has gotten the job done. By the way, like the shout out to room 312? Yes, those are actual nicknames--thanks Larry.
No one ever finds it surprising that teachers should differentiate with their students. It is an expectation. It is funny, cause I was talking to a colleague about our work situation and the demands being placed upon all the school at the moment. In some points we disagreed, but we agreed that the root of discord is in the impersonalness of the demands. I don't oppose the ideals being asked of us. I do, however, resent not being asked about what my specific needs are in regards to the demand. I am tired of being "pegged" and not having my unique qualities considered: like my teaching philosophy, management beliefs, personality, experience, and assignment as well as added responsibilities. Why doesn't our administration differentiate in terms of providing professional development for its staff? I mean, we have different classroom needs, and different experiences. We are in different assignments. My classroom is very different from that of one my Bilingual Early Childhood peers. Why are we "talked at" the same? I am not even going to get on the collaborating part (what is that?)-some grades just get policed more than others. That is a whole other rant.
Where is it? The differentiation for teachers? I don't mean different expectations. That we seem to have down pat at our school. I mean true differentiation-where the end goal is the same, but the path taken meets the needs of the people following it. What happened to meeting teachers where they are at, and working together to get the teachers where they need to be? Maybe I am just on something that has me thinking crazy, or lofty. Again, I ask myself, if you are getting the same results you got the year before, and nothing has improved, are you really growing? If you add more coaches, and nothing changes, don't you think it's time you looked at the system a second time? Something isn't right.
I am not blaming the coaches-I want that understood. They are human just like we are. I am just challenging this approach to NCLB. Let's just add more people to police our teachers. Let's not really look at problems and try to assess or ascertain the "why" and "how." That makes too much sense. The teachers obviously are not knowledgeable enough to have any solutions, so let's go get some experts to lead us to the Promise Land by themselves. Oh, whatever will I do without the salvation of my expert help, which I only will get if I suck badly or work against the status quo? Even then, the help I will get will be cookie-cutter, and not in line with any of my own personal goals for growth. Because obviously I don't have personal goals. At least it doesn't seem to be important to any of my "help." Oh well. I am doing this for Bill, so I guess he is all that really matters anyway.