Here to There Differentiatedly

From Google Maps

It arrived in the post yesterday.

Reading it, I can hear his voice reading it to me. That is either cool or creepy, I can't decide yet. Inflections, emphasis, pacing, even hand gestures appear in my mind.

Again, cool or creepy, and I've only read the first chapter of Fair Isn't Always Equal by @rickwormeli.

It's been on my list for a couple of years now, but finally bought a copy. It is used, which I like to do.

Used books are whacky. This one has obvious water damaged and the previous owner (s?) stopped using orange highlighter after the first chapter. There are also mysterious stains that look like dead mosquitoes or fingernail polish in the first few pages. Like I said, whacky.

Enough...

This week, the baseball team I coach in the summer is heading to Hamburg, Minnesota, thus the map.

I know this is trite, but it just hit me again. How do my students learn? If the destination is Hamburg, what is the best way for us to travel there. The destination is the final goal, but the journey is so different for each of these routes. The topography and what we would see along the way varies even in this short jaunt across central Minnesota.

From the Intranets

Ooh! Aaahh! Here's the big tie in to what I'm thinking and reflecting about after reading chapter one. (I wouldn't have highlighted the same stuff as the previous owner of the book, no wonder they quit working through it.)

Chapter 1 challenges me to think about being fair in my classroom. Fair as being defined as differentiated instruction for my students.

This year, I'm expecting a full boat in all my biology classes. Don't think there will be a class smaller than 24, but whatever. The point of thought is that there will be a pile of learners: each one with their own style and need for getting to the final objective of learning the biology standards as identified.

Last year was my second year of using standards based grading. That has been an amazing transformation for me. If you're bored, scroll back through some previous posts. With the standards and the associated "I Can" statements placed in front of the students, how can differentiated instruction work best to help them achieve mastery. How can I make the biology classroom more fair in that way?

The mind-set of differentiated instruction asks me to consider more and more the need for competent, independent learners. Each of these minds engaged in biology is unique, and one of the challenges is to create competent biologists. The want for them to take their learning up and carry it to the standard and become proficient can make it fair.

How do I help them know themselves as learners? That question shakes me, but it is a goal attainable. My job is to give them the skills to know themselves: strengths, weaknesses, shortcomings, holes...

How do I get them to "Hamburg"?

1. get to know them as learners
2. build relationships
3. incite their curiosity 
4. encourage them to know themselves as competent, independent learners
5. make their biology experience fair

THAT is some stuff to do!