Differentiated Instruction in Tweens

Differentiation is a topic that is thrown around in education on a daily basis.  It is something that crosses mind every time I plan a lesson. My teaching philosophy is:

"TO MEET EACH CHILD WHERE THEY ARE IN THEIR LEARNING AND HELP THEM GROW FROM THERE" 

As a middle school teacher, I know that this age is known for forgetting their brain sometimes most of the time!

Image take from Make A Meme

Even though there are trying days (as there are with all levels of teaching) this is the age that I love, but it also the age where I feel like differentiation is very important.  In the elementary years, children enjoy coming to school.  They love their teachers and playing with their friends and academics to them is still considered to be fun.  Then they hit middle school and, along with all those hormones running all over their body, there is also a lot of confusion and frustration.  This is the age (I feel) that we loose a lot of children and their fondness of school, and I think this is because their brains are developing at such different rates during the tween years, yet many educators are teaching as if the curriculum is one size fits all.   School gets more difficult each year, but when we just keep trudging through with a child that is physically not ready to trudge, we loose them...and they end up hating school and possibly becoming those that drop out in high school.  One of my favorite things I have ever read about this age come from Rick Wormeli.  He writes, "“of all the states of matter in the known universe, tweens most closely resemble liquid. Students at this age have a defined volume, but not a defined shape. They are ever ready to flow, and they are rarely compressible. Although they can spill, freeze, and boil, they can also lift others, do impressive work, take the shape of their environment, and carry multiple ideas within themselves.”

Image take from Facevertizing

Each day when my students walk in the room, I don't know what shape they will take on for the day, and that's what makes teaching this age so challenging exciting! Every day I have lesson plans written and how I want the lesson to go and many times how I want it to go gets thrown out the window, and that's okay! I am thankful I teach at a school where I don't have administration breathing down my throat to be on a certain lesson on a certain day. I truly don't know if I could be a teacher if I did. I feel like that would be going against my own teaching philosophy and what is the point in teaching if you can't demonstrate what you believe education should be?

Thanks for letting me reflect!

Tona Speltz

HE>I

If you haven't had the opportunity to read any of Rick Wormeli's books, I highly recommend checking him out! He has a way of writing that is easy and inspiring to read. Two of my favorites by him are Meet Me in the Middle and Fair Isn't Always Equal: Assessing & Grading in the Differentiated Classroom.

Reference

Image. (n.d). Retrieved from http://makeameme.org

Nailed-It-Baby-Meme-06 – Facevertizing. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.facevertizing.com/er-success/nailed-it-baby-meme-06/
Wormeli, R. (2006, April). Differentiating for Tweens. Retrieved from http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/apr06/vol63/num07/Differentiating-for-Tweens.aspx