Creating Lifelong Learners

I’ve had some time now to reflect on my blog’s discussion about differentiation that brought about some pretty exciting comments, particularly on this post about classroom management which now has 40 comments, most of them about differentiation even though that wasn’t what the post was about.

Tracking vs. Differentiation is the Wrong Argument

I think the discussion was framed incorrectly by people who viewed the conversation as one about tracking vs. differentiation. I understand that the argument was framed as such if you followed certain links in but I reject the idea that tracking means you won’t have to differentiate because even then the students have different talents and skills. I’m also not about discussing whether heterogenous groupings of students is better or not better. The fact is that most classes are put together with mixed ability groupings and I’m about how to make that work. Arguments for or against differentiation have their place but this isn’t it.

We Have to Accept Mediocrity/Every Teacher Can’t Be a Superstar

No we don’t/not every teacher has to be.

These were a couple of the comments I received. If you haven’t heard me when I say that differentiation through methods like writer’s workshop and student research are not more work for a teacher than traditional worksheets then I haven’t done what I set out to do.

I do not consider myself a superstar and I’m not one of those teachers who stays at school until six o’clock at night every day cleaning my closets. Many teachers put in a lot of time and it doesn’t necessarily translate into better teaching. I like teaching methods that require little preparation but involve small tweaks that make huge differences in student learning…like having students pair share information, employing visuals for presentation, allowing students to choose topics of interest to them. None of these things take more of my personal time and they each have paid big dividends for me. Try them out.

English Language Learners Don’t Read My Blog

I sympathize with the gifted parents who read and commented on my blog posts. In the interest of full-disclosure I was identified as gifted in the second grade and although I was placed in regular classrooms I participated in a pull-out GATE program. Those who commented that gifted students need to be challenged and engaged are preaching to the choir if they’re talking to me.

However, the voices of parents of English Language Learners I teach are apparently not represented in the comments. I reject the idea that gifted students are the only ones who are bored in class. I think everyone needs better (read more engaging and relevant teaching that promotes higher level thinking). The idea that your lowest students can’t participate in writing and research on their current academic level is hogwash.

Teacher Used to Do It All the Time

My favorite comment received is from Carolyn who said:

Teachers used to differentiate instruction all the time–this was what happened in one room school houses, with eight grades. All kids learned to work independently and all kids’ needs could be addressed since there were eight levels of material at any given moment.

While one-room schoolhouses had a lot of problems, I do get tired of whining about how hard it is to have students of different talents in the same room.

I don’t see engaging students of different levels as an option, I think that’s what teaching is.

Sign up for Workshops Here

The summer technology workshop schedule at the Los Angeles County Office of Education has been announced and I’m on it.

I’ll be offering the Integrating Technology in the Open Court Reading Program that I’ve been doing for the past year in various forms.

However, I’m also offering two new courses, iMovie ‘08 Bootcamp and Final Cut Express bootcamp. These classes are a a mixture of the technical and the artistic. You’ll come away able to use the software programs but also with a sense of shot composition, pacing, and the cinema techniques. I’ll teach you everything I learned before dropping out of NYU film school and from my experience as an independent (many films for no money) filmmaker.

There’s one more class too, a one day workshop on iWork ‘08.

For those who’ve never taken my classes before, know that they’re always for beginners and advanced users alike.  For those who have taken my classes before, come back, the news ones are going to be cool and I particularly enjoy having repeat visitors.

If you’re in the Los Angeles area, Downey sounds far but it’s not. It’s one of my favorite places to teach because the participants are awesome, the technology always works, and Cathy Rodriguez rocks.

Sign up for Workshops Here

True to form, my grandmother wanted the last word. I have been cleaning up her apartment and found this note right inside her dresser addressed to me and dated from 1997. I don’t know how I didn’t see it before but I just found it and it warmed my heart.

Dear Mathew,

I want to leave you with my wish for you. I can’t express myself as I would like to.

My thoughts are that you will fill your life with wonderful words, beautiful music, warm, kind, helpful ways to help others. This I know you are cpable of. Embrace all that life has to offer. Be good to yourself and to others.

Always remember how much I love you,
Mimi

Freda Needleman
1911-2008

Please forgive me as I’m taking a week off from educational blogging this week to remember one of my greatest teachers, my grandmother, who I called Mimi. She died this week, just thirteen days shy of her ninety-seventh birthday in her own apartment which she had lived in for over thirty years. We had an unusually close relationship. We spoke every day and visited once or twice a week. My father, her only child, died when I was a year old and so whereas other people had a mother and father, I had a mother and grandmother. This has meant that I’ve always sucked at sports but it has also meant that I have had two incredible teachers who have loved and supported me and taught me everything I know.

My grandmother didn’t want someone who didn’t know her to get up and speak about her and so my mother and I spoke at her funeral. I felt unable to speak in person and so no one was surprised hat I delivered my speech and accompanying slideshow via DVD. Here’s my speech…

I recently spoke at an educational conference in Palm Springs and Mimi listened as I practiced my speech. She gave me two pieces of advice. She said, talk loud and don’t touch yourself. Today’s a little harder than that conference so please forgive me if I forget one of her suggestions.

It was twelve o’clock midnight, just before my grandmother was going into hip surgery. She sent everyone else out of the room and called me close. I was crying. And she said, if something happens to me I don’t want you to cry and I don’t want you to be sad because what we had was special and you I have had some good times together. And we both said I love you.

And she came out of hip surgery and lived for six more years. She kept falling down, sometimes literally, and springing back to life, each time with more pains and bruises but each time alive. So it’s not a surprise now that she’s gone but on some level it seemed as if she was going to go one forever.
Ever since picking me up from kindergarten she was always teaching me lessons. She was always afraid that I wasn’t listening or that she hadn’t gotten through to me and so I guess what I want her to know is that I was listening and her voice has been guiding me in my head for years and that won’t go away any time soon.

She taught me to treat others how I wanted to be treated, how to make meatballs, and in second grade she taught me not to eat my own boogers. On one of our weekly trips to the market last year we were walking past the melons when suddenly she got all choked up and I said, “What’s wrong?” And she said, “I must have done something right. I must’ve taught you something because you’ve turned out okay. “ And I was feeling pretty good about my life choices and how often do you hear this so I prompted her a little, I said, “What makes you say that?” And she said, “Back there with the bread, you knew those rolls were bad. You wouldn’t buy stale bread.”

And another favorite memory at the market. We had just paid and I was pushing the cart. She was pushing the walker. We left the checkstand and we were walking behind an old man also using a walker. We walked slowly and politely behind him for about five feet and then I looked at my grandmother. She was walking so quickly herself but she shook her head and said, “Oh, come on!” and she pulled her walker out from behind him and pushed herself out the door in front of him.

And so I’m sad that she didn’t get to see me buy a house which might be happening soon. And she didn’t get to meet her great grandkids which won’t be happening soon. And she didn’t get to go to her funeral which so far is pretty nice.

But she was there and she was always there for everything from baseball games to birthdays and graduations, movie premieres, and play premieres. She came to school with me to help out one day when I was teaching kindergarten. And I think she was proud of my teaching. She kept print-outs of articles I’d written for my blog on her coffee table. She was very interested in my internet business and she even asked me about the day before she died. A couple of years ago she had seen a Dateline NBC program or something like it about pornography on the internet. She was very concerned that I was involved with something shady and couldn’t understand why random people were sending me money. So I tried to explain to her for an hour about how the business worked and at the end I said my business has absolutely nothing to do with pornography. Okay, she said I understand…but wouldn’t you make more money if it did?

And so she was right, what he had was something special and I am lucky to have had thirty one years with Mimi. My life has been better because of it. I love her and I will never will forget her lessons or her love.

I leave this message for [my father and grandmother also buried at the same cemetery] to say that I loved her, I took care of her the best I could, and I give her to you now. You take care of her, make her laugh, and bring her by the house, we live just down the street.

Learning A-Z is offering free resources this week. I’m not a big fan of worksheets but they’re not all worksheets. Today they have free downloadable books. You will need to log-in and create an account.

May 05
http://www.readinga-z.com
Thousands of printable books, including leveled readers and supporting materials

May 06
http://www.raz-kids.com
Interactive leveled reading library and online progress management system

May 07
http://www.writinga-z.com
The most complete collection of elementary writing resources anywhere

May 08
http://www.vocabularya-z.com
Custom vocabulary lessons and activities to match thousands of topics

May 09
http://www.reading-tutors.com
Skill-specific materials for students needing extra reading help

May 12
NEW: http://www.sciencea-z.com
Science units with multi-level books, lessons, experiments, and labs

When we recorded our voice overs for our movie projects last year, I’d call “Quiet on the Set” and it would need to be totally quiet. I knew that my class would do a good job of this but there was one student, “Tommy,” who wasn’t going to be quiet and he would probably get two or three other students talking at the same time. Tommy became our engineer. Tommy shouted “Quiet on the Set” and he pushed the record button in iMovie. No one talked, Tommy was a productive member of our classroom, and I wasn’t aggravated.

Have a student who has a problem with wandering around the classroom? How about making them a paper monitor this week?

Problems with excess socializing? How about sitting students in groups and employing collaborative work?

Elementary students don’t do homework? How about meeting with those students to make sure they’re able to complete the work without parent help?

Give your students a chance and sometimes they’ll rise to the challenge. Also note that your own frustration is less when students are productive and things work as they should.

Related Posts:

Classroom Management: The Teacher’s Voice
Classroom Management: Appropriate Consequences
Classroom Management: Good Morning

As the phrase “research-based” is thrown around to sell textbooks, ideas, and curricular materials, it’s important that we think critically about research presented. This week, two new articles have come to light which shed doubt on some  educational beliefs.

We DON’T Remember 90% of What We Teach Others

This one is an older article by Dr. Will Thalheimer which researches the figures that appear with the Cone of Learning to say that we remember 90% of what we do and 5% of what we hear or read. Although the article is two years old, it evidently hasn’t made its way around my district yet as you hear this figure at nearly every professional development session you attend.

While it’s true that most classrooms employ mostly teacher lecturing and that student retention would likely increase if teachers taught to different learning modalities, the exact percentages are mostly bogus. Much depends on an individual’s learning modalities, the material being presented, and how it’s being presented. The idea of putting percentages to the different modalities is pretty silly.

I can’t say I remember 90% of what I’ve ever taught. Can you?

Music Doesn’t Increase Test Scores

Bummer. Ken Pendergrass, music teacher, presents this New York Times article which looks critically at research stating that music increases academic performance in other areas.

Maybe we should be teaching music for the way it enriches our lives, teaches teamwork, concentration, and rhythm.  Other reasons?

Manipulatives Don’t Help Teach Math

Elona, of Teacher at Risk, comments on another New York Times article which calls into question the benefit of real-world examples and manipulatives to teach abstract concepts. Certainly, just putting manipulatives in a kids hand isn’t going to improve mathematical understanding. We need to do more work in terms of bridging the gap between the concrete and the abstract.

Analysis

I believe in teaching music. I believe in using manipulatives and real world examples. And I believe that we need to break free from lecturing and begin to employ material that appeals to different learning modalities. However, I can’t use shoddy research as justification for those things.

Teachers As Researchers

Teachers are in a unique position to gather data, informal, observational, as well as standardized testing data because of the access we have to our students. Doing research doesn’t mean doing what you’ve always done because it “just works.” Research means looking critically at one area of your teaching and analyzing data to see how it is working. Please join me in continuing to research the use of concrete mathematical examples in teaching or any other area of the curriculum you’re willing to look at critically.

Who do you trust for your education research?