The implementation of Differentiated Instruction and Standards Based Grading into my district has been a constant source of enlightenment and grief. The integration of DI into my lessons has been generally easy with only minimal aggravation. On the other hand the change over of grading to SBG has been a source of several heated conversations among my colleges, administrators, parents, the school board and I. I volunteered to be part of the SBG pilot in my district, actually the two younger teachers in my department wanted to be involved in it and took me along for the ride. It has now been over a year since we began and I am noticing some “symptoms” of burnout among all those involved in the program in my building. As I read the descriptions by Maslach (1982) of the signs professional burnout I identified with several; loss of enthusiasm, emotional exhaustion, feeling powerless, negative attitude toward the program, I knew it was time to do something about these feelings (Kottler, Zehm, & Kottler, 2005).
After feeling completely lost for a few weeks my Curriculum Director, who brought this program to the district, invited all those participating in the pilot to see Rick Wormeli, DI and SBG advocate, speak on those topics. I went into the event still very skeptical of the ideas, and unexpectedly as I listened I started to understand. It was like a light went on for me and all the things that had been confusing, now made sense. I made a point to read his book so I could get a better grasp on these ideas. The part from Wormeli’s book that ruminates with me deals with the reason for DI type instruction and why we use SBG in the classroom. What is it about differentiated practice that yields good results? Competence and diverse approaches to learning lead the way. Students for whom teachers have differentiated instruction learn well; they’re competent. They understand themselves as learners, and because of that they are better equipped to advocate for themselves (Wormeli, 2006).
No comments:
Post a Comment