Purpose
Differentiating classroom instruction is difficult, particularly for the teacher who has students for 40-50 minutes a day. What must the teacher do to make the necessary adjustments to successfully implement this process and what must the school leadership team do to support the process? This two session activity is designed to:
Assist the teachers through strong professional development to "grow slowly, but grow."
To identify and practice behaviors that will sustain the teacher over the long haul.
To recognize the need to pay attention to details.
To rely on your colleagues for support through informal (frequent discussion) and formal processes (coaching).
To develop an appreciation for the change process and work with school leadership to support the process through the difficult times.
Sessions: Two
Activity: This Activity is designed for team collaboration
The team will participate in a text based seminar discussion of Chapters 9 and 10 of the text. Prior to session one of this section, the teachers will identify those elements of the chapters where they have strong agreement (underline), serious concerns (parentheses), or inquiring questions (*). Following the session of these noted items by the team in session one, the team will identify several areas for discussion in preparation for session two. In between the first and second session, the teacher will write responses in the Response Journal to the following questions:
What is your current thinking on the valid and practical use of differentiated activities in the classroom? Use the issues the team agreed were important for further discussion as a guide to answering this question. Are there concerns that you have that the other members of the team do not have or did not see as important as you did? Explain.
What do you need in order to move this process along?
What do you see as a reasonable goal for yourself?
In session two, the team will have a structured discussion around the topics the teachers identified in the previous session and share reflections with one another based on what was written by each teacher in the Response Journal. This discussion will give direction both to the team and the school leadership on what still needs be done.
Materials
Text, Chapters 9 and 10
Response Journal
Products
Through a facilitated discussion, the team generates a list of positive elements that exist and determine a set of needs based on interest or concerns. This list will be communicated to the other teams and the school leadership team.