The Classroom

I believe that one of the most important professional duties of a teacher is that of mentorship. To pass on our knowledge and experiences to other teachers, and in turn help them to be better able to reach more students. That’s why I created this blog. It’s also why I take on student teachers every year.

My newest student teacher starts Monday. As with every student teacher I put together a little care package, something to welcome them to the profession and my classroom. To let them know a little bit about myself, and what they’ve gotten themselves into. As part of this package I always include my written philosophy of education, and request that if they haven’t written their’s yet that they do so before the end of the practicum. I find knowing one’s educational beliefs and solidifying them on paper creates a wonderful teaching compass. I know philosophies can change over the years – but everyone needs a starting point. In times of confusion I pull mine and read it. It helps me remember what I hold dear, and can cut through the politics and other flotsam that can come with our profession.

Everyone has a different view as to what education is, and what’s truly important to learn. In preparing for this post I came across the following quotes:

“Education is what remains after one has forgotten everything he learned in school.” – Albert Einstein
“Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper.” – Robert Frost
“Believe nothing, no matter where you read it or who has said it, not even if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense.” – Buddha
“I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.” –Confucius
“The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education.” – Albert Einstein

What is education? Is it learning facts and figures? The memorization of dates and events? Earlier this year I was talking to a principal who stated “All children are not only capable of learning – they all WILL learn something. Just not always what you want”. What is it that we want our students to take home with them at night?

To me education is the empowerment of our student. To provide them with the skills they need to solve their own problems, and discover solutions no one else has ever thought of. I have heard that Einstein had a sign in his office that read “Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts.” I believe that education is the process by which teachers give our students that which can not be counted – self esteem, self empowerment, and pride.

What does education mean to you?

An age old concept – adapt lessons and teaching strategies to meet the needs of individual students. Help maximize the educational potential of each of our students. This can take many forms, from running multiple novel studies at the same time to meet different reading levels, to running a full program based on concepts like Gardner’s Multiple Inteligence Theory. We do it by creating IPPs for our higher needs students, or when we stop to help an individual student by offering a different strategy to find an answer.

There are many books and a quick search will bring up many websites on the subject. Edmonton Public Schools is running a large project to look at how teachers are using Differentiation in the Classroom, and to encourage more directed planning in this area. At my school we are using this as an opportunity to look at what we are currently doing in the classroom, and celebrate our successes.

Personally I’m a big fan of multiple intelligences. I spend the first week of every school year teaching my students of the theory, and performing personal inventories to try and discover where their individual strengths (and conversely weaknesses) may lie. I use this information to help plan activities or certain groups throughout the year. I also use open format projects to allow students to show me what they know by using their own strengths.

But differentiation doesn’t just end there. It is a large and vast concept. How do you differentiate in your instruction?