Article Response 3: Differentiated Instruction: Begin with Teachers!

What does it mean to be a life-long learner?

That is an important question for educators to reflect upon. Kimberly Kappler Hewitt and Daniel K. Weckstein, in their article Differentiated Instruction: Begin with Teachers! describe the process one school undertook to support learning as a life-long process for all.

Differentiation, as defined by Carol Tomlinson, is "modifying content, process,and/or product according to student interest, readiness, and learning profile." Differentiation  was this school's academic goal, but this goal was met with resistance by some veteran educators. The school needed to develop a process worthy of the time, energy, and trust of the staff. By doing so, one staff member who was initially most resistant became one of the champions of differentiation.

Guided by the work of Tomlinson, they operated out of her "Fire and Light" metaphors:

that, at best, we want educators beckoned toward this change (light), but, failing that, must use fire to push them to change. In their follow-up book, Differentiation is an Expectation, Kappler Hewitt and Weckstein write:

Light symbolizes efforts to beckon and draw teachers toward change. Light represents warmth, companionship, comfort and security... Light strategies have the greatest impact... Not all teachers, however, respond to being beckoned by the

light. Fire strategies are therefore necessary to communicate that all teachers are expected to differentiate and that this expectation is nonnegotiable...Fire symbolizes the necessity of making it uncomfortable - or impossible - for teachers to maintain the status quo.

So the question remains: how did they bring their staff on board? Teachers were shown the benefits of differentiation by experiencing it themselves in their own supervision. Based on each teacher's self-assessment, supervision goals and action plans were developed, with choice for all. Administrators were advocating that a one-size-fits-all approach does not work for children; and they modelled that same reality for the teachers. They weren't just talking the talk, they were walking the walk.

In their analysis of why it worked, the authors attribute it to choice and modelling: 

• the empowerment of teachers through choice, and 
• modelling among the staff what they would in turn implement among the students.

I believe good teaching is good teaching, good leadership is good leadership, and best practices are best practices. When those are modelled with respect and wisdom, often even the most recalcitrant teacher will be moved to embrace change.