Over the past couple of months, I've briefly touched on the subject of differentiated instruction within my classes. But as the school year continues, this issue keeps coming up over and over again. I'm having a serious problem dealing with differentiated instruction. Now do not get me wrong. Of course, I believe that everyone who needs and/or wants to be educated has that right. That is not the problem. The problem is: As a dedicated teacher, how do you make sure that you are serving the needs of all students when your classes are at completely different levels? I will use my Period 7 class as an example:
My Period 7 class, a senior class, is hands down the most difficult class for me for a multitude of reasons. That particular class has: 27 students (way too many), 24 of which are FLEPs (Formerly Limited English Proficient), 3 ELLs (English Language Learners), 2 Special Eds, and a partridge in a pear tree. It also has an inordinate number of students with behavior issues. Additionally, the students read at disparate grade levels: i.e., 5th, 8th, 10th, 12th, and collegiate. So can someone PLEASE tell me how do you teach a class like this?? If I do text that is on grade level, 75% are lost and then behavioral issues creep in. If I do something below grade level, then 25% are bored and then behavioral issues creep in. None of them can apparently go 2 minutes without talking, which is incredibly disrespectful. The cell phone usage runs rampant despite being a posted school and class rule. Whenever I'm scheduled to teach this class, I dread it. And again the interesting thing is that I genuinely adore 99% of the students in this classroom. I'm sure every teacher can appreciate my frustrations. I honestly don't know what to do anymore in that classroom. Anything I try doesn't work. And I still have 8 months to go.
By the way, these issues are not exclusive to this particular class (although this is the worse). My other classes are in the very similar circumstances. I know that there isn't any magic bullet to fix this issue, but I honestly just don't see how I can make any of my classes productive.
(Don't forget to check out My First Year of Teaching photo site.)
(Don't forget to check out My First Year of Teaching photo site.)
4 comments:
"To Sir, With Love"
Great movie!
Super great. I love that movie!! It'd make a good movie night w friends, right? But the point I was trying to make is that little of school has any relevance to kids. The work is often abstract, the kids can't relate it to their present or future selves, and besides being abstract, it is often boring, tedious work that doesn't engage them. From my experience, talented, excited teachers are a rare commodity, and those that aren't bored-dictator-automatons have their work cut out for them because the kids come to THEIR class with an expectation that they'll be uninspired (from experience) and they're shut down. And if you want to make the classroom alive and relevant, you're up against administration and the demands of teaching-to-the-test. Not to mention all the issues YOU have, with language and cultural barriers. Oiy. The re-vamp that is needed in public education is nothing less than a profound and complete turn-around.
Hmmm. Perhaps you might not want to the mention the realities of the education system to a first-year teacher who has all of 2 months experience. Not that I'm not aware of the realities, but I'd rather not focus on them. :-)
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