Teacher Differentiation?
Yes, please!
“If student instruction is differentiated, why can’t teacher PD be tailored to meet the needs of teachers?” -@remind101
I ran into this questions while hanging out on Twitter last night. I had just finished leading a great tech PD for my school district that was inspiring and new for many of the teachers. It was a great feeling…and then this question appeared.
As I thought about the answer, I was quickly brought to the realization that I do a lot of differentiation in the classroom to meet the singular needs of each of my First Grade students. It ranges from preferred seating arrangements to 1:1 teacher-student time to build confidence and academia with a student. The results of classroom differentiation are awesome for the students. Reaching their needs and giving them an opportunity to learn with positive results and enthusiasm is awesome! So…why can’t this happen more often for us, the teachers?
While this may not be the case for all of us, many times PD for teachers can be cumbersome, laborious, repetetetetetive and tiring. It is not meant to be, but it usually is. Gathering a large group of educators with varying experiences, years and knowledge and developing one singular item with all of them does not suit everyone’s needs. It is time to take the model that we use in the classroom and apply it to ourselves!
Teacher differentiation could be a great tool for building teacher knowledge! Participating in PD that would inspire, teach and allow us to grow based on our individual needs, wants, short-comings and strengths would make us better teachers…just as we make better students in the classroom! Taking the steps to getting this done may be difficult, though. Questions may arise: how do we initiate this paradigm shift? How do we convince our teacher leaders to look to us for inspiration? Would everyone buy in? Do I have the answers? NO! But do I want this change in the process to begin? YES!
As I begin to complete the 2013-14 school year, my goal is to continually address the needs of myself and fellow teachers/staff members. I will continue to make myself available for questions and help pertaining to my strengths and knowledge, just as I hope my school/district staff will allow themselves open for leadership and teacher teaching opportunities. Working together to grow is important. Working together to understand our own strengths and needs is important. Treating our own learning like we treat our student learning is a great model for further teacher growth…differentiate!
