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 Differentiation
Of Instruction
By Nancy Salvato
August 1, 2003 |
I’m thinking about the dinner table and what kind of meals
my mom made for the family when I was a kid. Sometimes we had TV dinners, if
it was just the kids eating. Most often, my mother tried to put a meal on
the table…at least up until she and my father separated. She provided for 6
people. We usually had some kind of meat and a green vegetable and a starch.
Sometimes there was salad and dessert. She didn’t do too badly meeting our
nutritional needs. She was no expert on food science but we all grew up
relatively healthy and knew the importance of a balanced meal. If she made
something that one of us didn’t like she told us we didn’t have to eat all
of it. She did not make us something else to eat. Sometimes we weren’t
eligible for dessert.
Now I’m thinking about school. I’m thinking about differentiation of
instruction. This is when the teacher is supposed to present the material in
the classroom to meet a number of different learning styles and needs. The
teacher is supposed to provide a balance of instruction in the classroom.
Not unlike my mother providing a balanced meal? It could be looked at this
way, but instead lets look at the reality of the matter. What the teacher is
really expected to do is cook up many different meals for one family. My
mother would have said, "I’m not a restaurant. If you don’t want it, don’t
eat it.” I would’ve eaten it because I was hungry, or not, and that would
have been the end of it. But I would not have been allowed to complain about
it, and depending on the situation I might have had to deal with unfavorable
consequences for my attitude.
Meanwhile,
back in the classroom…if a teacher has a student that is not meeting the
objectives of the class because he or she is not completing the homework or
not passing the quizzes or tests, (not eating the meal because he/she
doesn’t like it) the teacher will be reminded that there must be another way
to meet the needs of the student. It must be shown that the teacher has
tried to differentiate instruction in the classroom (the teacher must make
other alternative food choices).
Tracking is still legal in the school system as long as each student is
being provided equal educational opportunity. However, "tracking” has become
a "bad word in the school system. Differentiation of instruction is what has
taken its place. Rather than let different teachers teach to different sets
of students, all different needs of all different levels of students get
thrown in one classroom and the teacher is supposed to cook up all different
lesson plans and teach differently to meet the needs of each kid.
In the schools, students are not getting equal opportunity to learn but it
is not the fault of the teachers. Laws can be passed with the best of
intentions but they can backfire and the courts realize this. Example: The
courts have gone out of their way to make sure that reporters aren’t afraid
to report the news as they see fit. Courts have gone to bat to protect their
freedoms. Even though there have been cases where news is reported
inaccurately or with a particular slant, it’s realized that this is the
price society pays for freedom of speech.
Teachers can’t provide a good environment for learning when every kid with a
behavior problem, learning disability, or "family situation” gets thrown
into the classroom because they are supposed to have equal opportunity for
learning. If a student fails it becomes the teacher’s fault. It’s no wonder
that kids today can’t pass the exit exams. It’s because teachers pass them
or dumb down their curriculum (to meet their needs) and move them on rather
than risk not being rehired because there isn’t enough differentiated
instruction in the classroom. The teachers have lost their right to teach in
the classroom.
Today’s
student can do absolutely nothing and get promoted because studies show that
socially promoting a student is critical to their healthy development. And
this is the reality outside of the classroom as well. In daycares, schools,
park districts, every child is a winner. Every member of the soccer team
gets a trophy. Everyone gets to play. Everyone makes the team. But the real
winners (the students who truly excel) don’t get properly acknowledged.
Only when these students, who never have to experience failure, get out in
the real world will they realize that everything isn’t just given to them.
What a sad introduction to reality that will be. They will end up working
minimum wage jobs, maybe even draining the "real winners” of their hard
earned money by living off welfare (paid into by the hard working students
who grew up to get good jobs). And the losers will blame someone. You can be
pretty sure they won’t blame themselves. And why should they? They’ve been
told it’s everyone else’s fault when they aren’t successful. By the way,
these kids are the ones who end up unable to make change at your local fast
food restaurant.
Today’s students can misbehave and do absolutely nothing to meet the
objectives of the classroom, but if they are removed from the classroom (too
often or are failing) the teacher will be blamed for not providing or
differentiating instruction for a classroom of 33 kids with differing levels
and needs because "tracking” is a bad word.
Those who have taken away the right to teach appropriately in the classroom
should not be surprised that today’s students perform as they do. I find it
quite astonishing that the people who run the teachers’ unions; school
boards; create legislation; education theorists; and many parents, whose
existence doesn’t include their presence in a classroom on a daily basis,
believe they know what’s best in the classroom without ever having asked a
teacher what is needed or what works. Based on their current performance I
would have to give them all an F.
Nancy Salvato is a middle school teacher in Illinois and an independent
contractor for Prism Educational Consulting. She is the Educational Liaison
to IL Sen. Ray Soden and she works with national and local organizations
furthering the cause of Civic Education. She is a columnist for American
Daily, The Common Voice, GOP-USA, OpinionEditorials and The New Media Journal.us. Her
writing has been recognized by the US Secretary of Education. She has been published in
The Washington Times, The Washington Dispatch,
Iconoclast, Free Republic Network & Townhall.com., as well as other
nationally and internationally published media outlets.
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