What we want to learn…
Reviewing the KWL Four Days
After It Was Done
Friday, July 22, 2005
1. Do expectations differ for students? Different expectations for different students? Should you take the challenge to the edge of someone’s strength?
•Expectations is tricky – equity vs. equality… . E. do differ for students? Yes. E. for everyone working at the edge does not differ. You differentiate so everyone CAN work at their edge.
•Keep confidence, not I’m so lost I’m giving up. Don’t go easy on those who struggle more. If you df, you have different expectations.
•I’m still confused what you do if you have the same assignment for all students – where do you go from there?
•Could be an assessment problem. The student doesn’t know what I’m assessing because s/he isn’t being assessed on what s/he is working on.
•Can’t differentiate all the time. It’s always a struggle for the teacher to decide when, how.
2. How to grade, keep track, defend ideas when others (colleagues) have different ideas?
•Haven’t done much with this, yet. Issue of equity here. What’s fair to some may be not fair to all. You shouldn’t have to compare your assessments with your colleagues because you may be teaching it in a different way. I don’t ever want to compare. If its working, its working.
•The ideas of when its not working, you know that something’s wrong, one kid is getting a 98 and another a 50, and is it okay to give different tests, whatever… that’s the time to talk to colleagues and seek advice.
3. How do you manage multiple things going on at the same time?
•Practice.
•Work cards.
•Activity and Resource cards.
•Group process roles.
•Strong student in each group – with proper “process” training (so they don’t take over).
4. What can I expect from myself about learning how to manage a classroom using DI ?
•Start really organized.
•Not expect too much even if you are an overachiever!
•Clear vision. Crawl, walk, run to a place.
•Use found materials. Ask for what you need from colleagues, kids, parents – cereal boxes, old milk cartons, soda bottles, cans, old paper boxes .
5. How can we develop collaborations across departments, administrators, other faculty?
•?
•Beg, borrow, steal.
•The Dante solution.
6. What should the approach to parents be? Do we use an honest and real approach where we acknowledge difference and explain why we are doing DI? The mentioning of Harvard may not be the best reference to use ☺.
•Mention UVM. Just kidding.
•Honesty is a good idea. If parents believe you are really trying to meet their children’s needs, they will cut you some slack.
•Use the interest inventory with parents! Ask them to write a letter to you before school starts. Phone home when something positive happens – make it up!
•Talk to the Moms. Listen to C. on Monday.
•Gender Matters (Sachs.)
7. How can I realistically incorporate this into my immediate Fall2005 responsibilities?
•Laughter.
•More laughter.
•TBD
•The light at the end of the tunnel isn’t a railroad train!
•We can be better observers, we know more about what to look for, that works.
•Zone of Proximal Development. We’ve gotten more in the zone as the week as gone on. Lev. V. Good to go in and out. You’ve had excellent scaffolding! (Smile.)
8. How do you manage honesty in the classroom in terms of being direct with students about their differences, both with what I say and what I do? How do I explain why we aren’t all doing the same thing and why that’s a good thing? Should I even be revealing this?
•Tomlinson had something to say about this. P40. Everyone walks, not everyone first walked on 10/3/88. [This can become a default cause of kids falling behind incredibly. You still have to keep an eye on how the learning is going. One of the benefits of standardized inquiries – individual and group data.]
•You don’t always get what you want. MJ
•You have to work for it. TT
•I control the revelation of information. I don’t reveal all my cards. Harry Potter story.
9. How does a collaborative model fit a differentiated model?
10. Should you do DI all the time? When does it work best for what purposes? If not all the time, then when, and why if only infrequently?
•No
•When you want kids to be on their edge.
•When you think there is a need.
11. Is shallow knowledge necessarily bad? What if a person’s knowledge of my “something” is shallow because their life is culturally different? Their “something” is different.
•No, sk is not bad.
•It’s experience. And it’s a first step.
•Find culturally relevant – local knowledge – information is really good to do.
•Remember the connection here with “inflexible knowing.” First step on a path… .
•Find something that all know something about. Dante’s super hard core Darth Vader guy. Paper on Star Wars and Imperialism. (Does he want to go into politics??? Karl Rove???)