Thinking about Differentiation

I saw Carol Ann Tomlinson again recently.  She is a former teacher, now university professor and author of many books on differentiating instruction and assessment.  Check out my bookshelf below for links to some of her books. 

One of the ideas she was talking about was classroom management and how it is often thought of as a synonym for control.  And that if we see it in that way, our view of teaching can become ensuring that kids are quiet and still.  The underlying assumption being, that on their own, young learners are unreliable.  She went on to quote Alfie Kohn, saying:
                ... the more we "manage" students behavior and try to make them do what we say, 
               the more difficult it is for them to become morally sophisticated people who think 
               for themselves and care for others.

Tomlinson encouraged us to think about leading students first... and then managing them.

               First asking..."What do my students need to succeed and how can my students and I 
                work together to meet those needs?" Then managing the details necessary to  
               accomplish that.

She described leadership in this way:

•  has a vision for something good
• has the capacity to share the vision and enlist others in it
• builds a team for achieving the vision
• renews commitment to the vision
• celebrates successes
• about people

... and management in this way:

• plans schedules
• handles details
• prepares materials
• arranges furniture
• orchestrates movement
• practices routines
• troubleshoots
• about mechanics

And then she asked this question,

" To what degree do you see yourself as a leader vs a manager of students?"

The question itself isn't that hard for me to answer.  Harder are the questions that follow:

• What is my/our vision for this community of learners?
• How am I sharing this vision with my students?
• Am I sharing this vision with all of my students?
• Have I built a team for achieving this vision?
• Do we need to renew our commitment to the vision?
• Are we celebrating success as often as we should?

What I liked in this way of thinking about differentiation was that it clearly showed it to be about relationships, mindset and the learning environment... first and most often.

  More next time on Tomlinson's view of how to get there.