Fulfilling the Promise Chapter 5

Curriculum and Instruction as the Vehicle for Addressing Student Needs
This is something that I know I am going to need to work on and remind myself of constantly. I can't fix everything. My role is to teach. I am not a counselor, parent, coach, or social worker. My job is to shape lives by equipping my students with the intellectual wherewithal necessary to make their way in the world. A world that increasingly demands academic preparation for full participation. My job is to ensure that my students develop the knowledge, understanding, and skill necessary to be productive members of society. How do I do this? What tools do I use? My tools are the curriculum and my instruction. I need to make sure my students develop the knowledge, understanding, and skill necessary to be productive members of society. The thing is that any teacher can take these tools and teacher. But in order to be a "good" teacher I need to take these tools, teach the subjects, and teach the human beings in my room.
We have all had teachers that taught the subject well, but made no connection at all to us as the student. In fact, this philosophy, of teaching the subject and no worries about who you are teaching, is evident even in my own classes here at UVU. What a shame! Teaching a classroom of future teachers, who are being taught the importance of getting to know your students, and not taking even a minute to try to learn our names. "Please invest in me." Even here at UVU a couple of our teachers have said to us, "The information is here. I'll deliver. You get it." How much learning is actually taking place in these classes? On the other hand I have had many teachers here at UVU respond to that request with a, "I care about who you are. I will learn about you and do whatever it takes to make sure you take this subject matter and use it to make you a fuller and more potent human being then you were when you walked into this program. Please be my colleague." Now these are the classes where the learning has happened! The work with these latter teachers, was and is important, focused, engaging, demanding and scaffolded. To these teachers the curriculum and instruction are the medium through which they showed us the power of knowledge, the power of self, and the inextricable links between the two. I believe that I will walk away from this program knowing what it is like to be taught in a classroom without differentiation, and what it is like to be taught in a classroom with differentiation. Knowing the consequences, first hand, of focusing only on the subject at hand, and simply delivering it, I have determined the type of teacher I will be. I am even more determined to be the type of teacher who will not only teach the subject matter, but will remember that I am teaching human beings. I am teaching people who have a need for affirmation, contribution, power, purpose, and challenge in my classroom.
Curriculum is important. Curriculum can be a vehicle to address learner needs for affirmation, contribution, power, purpose, and challenge. But there is so much to cover. I remember Axel teaching us that it is more important to teach one thing well than to teach many things poorly. I like that idea, but also realize that there is a lot that needs to be covered in order for my students to do well on the end of the year standardized tests. My concerns were put at ease when I read, "Students in schools, classrooms, and educational systems that teach less and teach it better score higher on standardized measures than students in schools that seek coverage of massive amounts of information with little emphasis on understanding. In other words, curriculum that is a mile wide but only an inch deep in ineffective in producing real learning." (National Research Council, 1999; Stigler & Hiebert, 1999) My role is to determine what is important in the curriculum for my students. I can do this by asking myself: Is what we are studying essential to the structure of the subject matter? Does it provide a road map toward expertise in the subject area? Does it build understanding in the subject area? and Does it balance knowledge, understanding and skill?
Once I have determined what I believe to be important for our class to cover, I need to specify precisely what I want my students to know, understand, and be able to do as a result of what we are studying. Pre-assessment is so important at this point. It is much more effective to have a better sense of where the students are, what they know, and what they don't know when beginning to craft lessons. At the end it is important to ask students to produce something that demonstrates what they have come to know, understand, and are able to do as a result of what had just been studied. Do I hear Axel? BACKWARDS DESIGN!!!!!
"Much of the fine art of teaching comes in figuring out how to deliver the curricular fundamentals in ways that are irresistible to young minds." I am competing with video games, movies, and television it is important to find ways to motivate my students. Through novelty, personal interest, emotional connection, personal relevance or passion, I will have the ability to create an environment where learner engagement will occur. Creating this engaging environment allows students to see that there is meaning in the work being done, the work will be found to be intriguing, they will see the value in the work and they will find themselves absorbed by the work.
It is so important to create opportunities for each student to work hard. That means for every student persistent, meaningful, guided work that draws on the skills of complex thinking as well as the skills of thinking about thinking must be ever present. This allows each student, no matter their "level", to sharpen his/her abilities as a thinker. I am preparing my students for the real world. Demanding curriculum and instruction will help each of my students to develop habits of mind and attitude necessary for success in school and in life. I keep hearing in my mind, "Remember, equity not equal!" What may be demanding for one student may be overwhelming for another and may cause that student to quit trying. That is why it is so important to pre-assess and know each of my students. It is so important that I make sure each of my students taste success at their own levels.
I need to do my job for every student. I need to scaffold the growth of each student in my classroom. I can only do this if I take the time to get to know each of my students. In order for me to "raise the ceiling" for each learner in my room I need to know where I want each student to be at the end of the lesson, where each learner stands or begins, and then I can take the action needed to ensure that each student grows. I need to place work that is a bit out of reach of each student and then ensure each of them that as they extend themselves they will succeed. Not one student in my classroom knows how to grow in a subject area, until I make it necessary for them to grow and I provide the support that guides them to grow.
Student diversity. I think this sums up differentiaiton teaching. In order for me to teach my students to activate their prior knowledge, to see the similarities between their life and the life of others, to make meaning of the subject, to grapple with thought provoking ideas, to make sound judgements, to activate learning, to work hard and to strive for quality, I must take the time to know each of my students. I must show them that I care, and I must provide the support system necessary for each of them to grow. The only way to do this is to take the time to find out what each student in my room knows and what they don't know, what they can and cannot do, and to assess this continually.
I see it in my own classes here at UVU. When we as the learners are not affirmed, when the professor cannot afford us purpose, power, challenge and contribution simply because they cannot take the time to get to know us the curriculum and instruction are impotent. On the other hand for those professors who do take the time to get to know us, they can respond effectively to each of us as individual learners with investment, persistence, opportunity, and reflection and the learning that takes place has no limits!