You Say Potato, I Say Potato

When I think back on my elementary school days, I can’t help but let that green monster called envy come to mind. I’m jealous of our students today. While they might be dealing with a more complex curriculum that includes new literacies and topics we didn’t have to deal with, there is one vital change that makes me quite jealous; differentiation. We now know that people learn in different ways and more importantly we respect those differences and work with them.

 

Looking back on my own school days, I remember having some wonderful teachers who were encouraging and supportive (and a few who were not, but that’s a whole other issue) however there was one thing that remained the same no matter what teacher I had. There was one lesson in front of the whole class, one way he or she was teaching it and you either got it or you didn’t. Granted, I did have some teachers who would take the time to explain it again if we didn’t get it, however it was explained exactly the same way it was the first time. My teachers didn’t have the awareness of or the push towards differentiation that we now have today. 

I’m a big fan of the theory of Multiple Intelligences. While Howard Gardner first put forth his theory of Multiple Intelligences in 1983 with his work ‘Frames of Mind,’ it didn’t catch on soon enough for me to  benefit from it in my school days. It’s really only in the last decade (and even less with some school boards) that we now see our classrooms reflect the idea that students naturally lean towards certain styles of learning and that what works for one student may not work for another.

Twenty years ago, reading was about breaking down sounds, learning them and then reading stories and answering questions to check comprehension. Oh, how many sheets of questions did I fill out! Year after year, there was worksheet after worksheet, with some class discussion thrown in along the way. I’m sure my teachers thought they were doing what was best at the time; however it unfortunately resulted in making the weaker readers feel inadequate as they struggled to keep up and boring the stronger ones. It was a time where ‘doing’ was the focus and there was plenty of busy work to achieve that. I was rarely asked to think about reading and never asked what strategy or approach worked for me. 

                                                                            

 

As a parent, I am grateful that my artsy son goes to school during a time where we value and respect the different personalities, interests and strengths of students and how they impact the way they learn. As a teacher, I am excited to be able to create an atmosphere that encompasses all of the Multiple Intelligences so my students can learn in a way that reflects their strengths instead of forcing them to conform to one style of teaching.

During my practicums, I embraced the use of technology, reader’s theatre, drama and role play, traditional essay writing, tableaux, class discussion, visuals and manipulatives and my student’s interests to create a dynamic reading program that reached every student in a way that worked for them. I will admit that it took a fair amount of observation and planning, however the rewards were well worth it.  I did my best to make reading connect with each of my students using the style and methods that made sense to them, instead of forcing the conformity that I experienced as student.