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Learning for All Students
by Christine Pankey
Teachers used to say, “I taught it; he/she just did not get it!” The 21st century’s gold standard in education is Did the student get it? If not, why not and what are teachers doing to meet the needs of all students? This gold standard applies to the gifted student, the typical student, the atypical student, the second language student, and the special needs student. The responsibility of instruction and learning has shifted from the student to the teacher where it belongs. It is not easy to educate everybody’s child but educators have a moral obligation to do just that without exception. This article looks at several components of Learning for All Students.
Opportunity to Learn
Most educators say that all students can learn but not at the same time. However, the one-size-fits-all practices of some teachers deny the notion of all students learning. Add in the adult biases—and atypical students, second language learners, and special needs students have less opportunity to learn than educators are willing to acknowledge. Take an honest look at the barriers in your school that inhibit student learning (ethnicity, learning styles, home language, economics, family dynamics, lack of child centeredness, etc.).
Few students will exit their postsecondary schooling into employment that provides special accommodations because of who they are or the knocks life dealt them. Educators do a serious disservice to students when they try to compensate for home conditions, difficult life circumstances, or economic status, etc. with lowered expectations instead of finding means for these students to access a rigorous education. Do not allow barriers to become an excuse for not educating a student.
Cultural Diversity
Did you know that Dick and Jane are not the only students in your school? This acknowledgment is a giant step toward cultural diversity and rigorous instruction and learning for all students. Build on the bilingualism of second language learners and offer a second language to native English speakers early in their schooling. There are awesome career opportunities for speakers of multiple languages. Build peer-to-peer relationships through peer tutoring. Consider adding cultural diversity and ethnic sensitivity training to the professional development roster of your school.
Student Teacher Relationships
How often has Mr. Z sent a student to the principal’s office because the student is disrespectful to him and disruptive in class? Yet, this same student is self-controlled and engaged in Ms. B’s class. When the principal asks the student why he creates havoc in Mr. Z’s class, he answers, “I don’t like that teacher.” The principal tells the student that he does not have to like Mr. Z but he does have to behave, focus, and learn in his class.
A master Language Arts teacher takes the most trying of middle-level students and moves them along the learning continuum; proven by their Ohio Achievement Test scores. How does she do this?
She understands the importance of teacher/student interactions and builds a relationship with each of her students. She cares on a personal level about each student. She contacts parents with good news when she can and, most important, she adjusts (instead of watering down), her instruction to meet the unique individual needs of each student.
This teacher shared how she placed most of the work for one of her students in a learning center at the student’s request. This student understood that he worked slower than the rest of the class but that he could complete his work if he worked alone and had enough time. Was this student doing the expected grade level work? No. However, he worked at a higher level than previously and his teacher chose to see the glass as half full.
Advocacy
Principal and teacher leaders must first support staff in integrating the concept of learning for all students into their daily practices. Second, school leaders can build an active student advocacy into the fiber of their school’s culture through grade level teaming and advisories.
Conclusion
Exercising due diligence is the first step in committing to the learning of all students. As a practicing principal, each year I welcomed my staff to the new school year with a special card that set the tone for our work together. In August 2006, the card had a Tatanka Iotanks (Sitting Bull) quote on the front, “Let us put our heads together and see what life we will make for our children.” I shared with staff my belief that Sitting Bull was not the fiery young warrior of his youth but that he had grown into a battle-scarred, weary but mature warrior filled with wisdom. Now, he looked to the future of his people and knew that future was tied to the survival and thieving of the children. Inside the card was this poem by Jane Medina:
*Jane Medina’s collection of poems, My Name is Jorge on Both Sides of the River (1999), is an excellent professional development resource for beginning the conversation around educating all students.
Invisible*
If I stay very still and breathe very quietly,
The magic happens: I disappear
No one sees me and no one hears me
And the teacher won’t call on me.
It’s very safe being invisible.
I’m perfect! I can’t make mistakes
At least nobody sees them, so nobody laughs.
The Sitting Bull quote and Medina poem were woven throughout our professional development and daily practices that year. We were watchful for that invisible child in our school. We reached out to families with the mantra “the children we share,” taking our licks in stride when we earned them and taking them gracefully when we had not earned them. We soon noticed that we were getting more family partnership than we had enjoyed in the past.
All children can learn is a truism. Those educators who see their work with students as bankable currency against the adult citizens they will one day become have great success in educating everybody’s children.
Christine Pankey is an education consultant and retired central office administrator, middle school principal, and elementary school principal.
