The above tongue-in-cheek comic illustrates the expectation in many American classrooms, including at one point my own, that students should all start and end at the same place.
Each child comes to us with the hope of learning, but they do not start at the same place. The heterogeneous classroom is like a collection of snowflakes - each incredibly wonderful, sparkling, intricate, complicated, prismatic, fleeting - no two the same. Is is our professional and moral duty to meet these kids where they are and honor their unique intellectual patterns.
Rabbi Brad Hirschfield, President of the National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership, says:
Each child comes to us with the hope of learning, but they do not start at the same place. The heterogeneous classroom is like a collection of snowflakes - each incredibly wonderful, sparkling, intricate, complicated, prismatic, fleeting - no two the same. Is is our professional and moral duty to meet these kids where they are and honor their unique intellectual patterns.
Rabbi Brad Hirschfield, President of the National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership, says:
Too often, when students are in school, they are not looked at in terms of their strengths; rather, there is a focus on remediating their deficits. This is rarely a source of inspiration for anyone. What ends up happening is that kids' strengths and passions are either hidden from their educators or worse, they become hidden from themselves because they do not get encouraged (http://tinyurl.com/bzhd3qj).
Prior to SBL, I was more interested in maneuvering students towards my teaching goals without using enough formative assessments to inform me about their their place in the learning journey. I also set out to remediate their deficits rather than provide them with skills as springboards for their strengths. Although it is a difficult task and I am nowhere near proficient, I am learning that equitable content and skills design is good for kids, and that fair isn't always equal.