Steve H & Becky C on "independent study"

from May 18, 2006, reacting to a sample tiered instruction assignment:

Where is the "instruction"? There is none, because Tiered Instruction is in their Independent Study section. I looked through everything they had there and all I ever found (in any section) was a reference to "mini-lessons" given by the teacher. They really have to stop using the word teacher or instructor because that is not what they are doing. Differentiated Instruction with no instruction. How about Differentiated Learning. Or, "You're on Your Own Learning".

This write-up looks more like a grading rubric. Perhaps they grade based on what they expect from a child. I've seen this before in job reviews. If you always exceed expectations, then you can't get much of a raise because you are just doing what you normally do. Are they going to give a "meeting expectations" to an "Above Grade Level" child and an "exceeding expectations" to a "Below Grade Level" child, even though the former student did more and better work? Of course, if you read the information at the site, the assessment is fuzzy and all individual. Once a Below Grade Level child; always a Below Grade Level child.

Even if one really thought that tiered (differentiated expectations) is a good thing to do, the explanation and examples on this web site are just so incredibly horrible.

Just look at this assignment. In eighth grade - "create a flag for Nunavut" is an Above Grade Level task. "Write an essay about what you would do if you were Prime Minister." Do about what? Citizenship? What in particular? "Trace your family heritage and present it." Just in Canada? How far back? Why? I've had assignments like this - poorly thought out and whipped together by lazy teachers.

Not only is it a wrong approach to education, it is done very badly.

here is Becky C:

Not a single one of these activities will be graded for quality. Did the Slow kid write well about his most memorable trip in Canada? Did the Medium kid do a good job representing the life of a PM? Did the Fast kid find the right amount of important details about the creation of Nunavat?

This is about teachers sending their teaching work home for parents to do.

As you might guess, we have had quite a few writing assignments sent home to our family this year from the public school. I have been working really hard to teach my boys to write. I have been feeling bitter about this.

Differentiated Instruction does not happen in real life. It is about as scarce as Direct Instruction.

and:

...if even one gullible parent of a 4th grader directly instructs her child how to write a summary paragraph by holding the child accountable for the quality of their paragraph, which is to say that the paragraph contains the right amount of important details... why, that's one more child who magically shows up in 6th grade already knowing how to write, and one less child that will need direct instruction in writing in 6th grade. Magical!

I've just HAD IT with writing assignments that are ASSIGNED to the student but are not GRADED constructively by the teacher as a means of instruction.

HAD IT HAD IT HAD IT

A mom in town here, who is actively concerned about the writing instruction, told me this week she would like to see her child get back just one paper without the sole feedback being the word "Terrific!" written on top.

Apparently she's decided to throw caution to the winds and skip the part about being careful what you wish for ...