Teacher to Teacher

Students may wonder, “What is going on?” when a teacher begins differentiating instruction—especially when differentiation hasn’t been the norm.  A student might question why he is required to do something that seems much more difficult than what another student is doing.  It’s best to address this issue right away before any differentiation occurs.   Today’s entry explains how I try to develop the concept of “fair” with my students so they will be more likely to accept differentiated instruction.  It’s not original to me, and unfortunately I don’t remember who first gave me the idea to try this.

I wanted my class to be ready for differentiated instruction right from the start, so on the first day of school I asked them to tell me what the word “fair” means.  I wrote a few of their definitions on the board.  Usually the definitions were mostly about equality—something like “everybody doing the same thing the same way” or “everybody getting the same amount.”

Then I said something to the students like, “So, let’s say Mary breaks her leg and needs a cast and has to use crutches.  Then it is only fair that each person in our class gets a cast and uses crutches.  Is that right?”

The class responded that of course it’s not right.  I then reminded them of their definitions of fair by saying, “But you just told me that fair means everybody getting the same thing or everybody doing the same thing.  So to be fair, we all need to have casts and crutches, right?”

“No,” they responded.

“Then why is it ok for Mary to have a cast and crutches, but not the rest of us?”

“Because she needs the cast and crutches so she can get around.  The rest of us don’t need a cast and crutches.”

“So, would you say that it is fair for Mary to have a cast and crutches even though we all don’t have casts and crutches?”

“Yes.”

I continue with another example,  “Joe has glasses so he can see better.  Therefore, to be fair, we should all wear glasses, right?”

“No.”

“Why does Joe get to have glasses and the rest of you don’t?”

“Because he needs glasses to see and we don’t”

“So, it’s fair for Joe to have glasses, but not the rest of us.  Let’s look at the definition of ‘fair’ that we put on the board.  Do we need to redefine fair?”

“Yes.”

I then led students to define fair as everyone getting what they need in order to do their best.  I also said that as a teacher, I’m kind of like a doctor giving out prescriptions.  “I give students what they need in order to learn in the way that is best for each of them.  Sometimes Joe needs to do this paper because, just like a doctor, I know what Joe needs.  I may see that Sally needs to do something different than Joe, so I give her a different assignment.  Does that sound fair?”

My classes always agreed that this sounded fair.  If your class doesn’t agree, you might have to work the scenarios a bit more or maybe try a different analogy, such as a coaching one.  The coach assigns different drills to different players based on what each one needs to perform well in the game.

I finished with, “In this classroom this year, you will sometimes be doing something different than other students in the class.  This is because I’ve decided, like a doctor, that some of you need to do things a certain way in order to learn in a way that is best for you.  So, in this class, you might be doing something different than your neighbor, but it is because you each have different ways of learning or different skills to practice.  Does that sound fair?”

My classes always responded, “Yes.”  If yours doesn’t, you might give more examples or analogies to help drive the point home.  Also remind students of this definition several times through the school year—and when you hear someone complain, “That’s not fair,” review it with them again.

Hopefully, addressing the issue of “fair” early in the school year will help your students be more accepting of differentiation in your classroom.  I’d be interested to hear any strategies you have for developing the concept of “fair” in your classroom.  Please share in the comments section.