The day is ending, and I am exhausted and content. The session today was pretty amazing and can be separated into two distinct strands. The first was dealing with differentiation of instruction, and the second was teaching up for equity and excellence. The equity portion was the most interesting and dealt with the needs of our non-majority populations in the classroom setting. I am going to post a bit from my stream of conscious notes as I am too tired to clean it up and organize it!

What is differentiation? "Shaking up" the educational experience by offering multiple options for taking in information, making sense of ideas, and expressing what has been learned.
+ Respectful teaching- Does this mean that not differentiating is disrespecting our students? Hmmm
+ Principle driven decision making not a set of strategies or activities
+ Analogy: There's an APP for that! Many resources to help us get things done, finding the right APP, method or modality
+ A sequence  of common sense decisions made by teachers with a student-first orientation
+ A way of thinking and being, a mind set

Common Sense Decisions of Differentiation
1. ensure learning environments support student learning (mindset, connections, community)
2. absolute clarity about powerful learning destinations (KUDs, engagement, understanding and teaching up)
3. Persistently knowing where students are in relation to the destination along the way.
4. Adjusting teaching to make sure each student arrives at destination (readiness, interest, learning profile)
5. Effective leadership and management of flexible routines and rules

What does it mean to teach up?
+ Clear KUDs
+require careful thought
+ focus on understanding
+ use key knowledge and skills to explore interests and application
+ authentic
+ require support, explanation, application, evaluation and transfer
+ criteria should be  at or ABOVE "meets expectations"
+requires metacognition, relfection, planning and evaluation
+every kid has "respectful" tasks, they must all be required to THINK, KNOW and DO

Quotes: We don't have a learning gap; we have an opportunity gap.
We must process new information in our primary language before we can communicate in academic language.
Rigor is what the KIDS do an produce not what the teacher does! You can't WING rigorous instruction; it must be thoughtfully planned.
We make meaning through cultural, linguistic and racial identities.

The most important thing is to know the students. (profiles, interests, etc) Wrap instructional strategies around WHO they are as learners. Don't try to wrap the students around your instructional strategies.

How can culturally responsive strategies add to differentiated instruction? Learning profile and interest surveys are more important than readiness. Relationships will turn the key. Students and teachers see through their own lens. (poverty, race, etc.) We've got to own them ALL. Half the battle of getting to rigor is knowing where your students are brilliant and honoring their uniqueness.

The strategies we choose should tap into our students experiences.

"Sometimes PLCs are so data driven that they never get to the how are we going to use this data piece." 20 % of time should be spend figuring out WHAT the data says. 80% of time should be figuring out WHAT we will do in response to data.

75% of closing the achievement gap is MINDSET. 25% is strategies. What we know and believe about students is key. Do we believe we can teach and reach them all? Do we truly believe they all can learn?

Those teachers who PLAN are more likely to hit the mark.

Information does not mean transformation.

You only need ONE kid to validate mediocre instruction. Teachers asks, "Do you get this." One student responds, "Yes".....so, the teacher moves on. How do we know they know if we don't assess learning in formative ways?

Equity is the process Equality is the outcome.

Equity stems from: AWARENESS, ATTITUDE, and ANALYSIS  of and towards racial identity and data. We must examine our unconscious bias. Do we ask lower DOK questions of some students? Have we already decided that some students can't learn or don't care? Are we practicing instructional racism with our low expectations without knowing it? Do we inadvertently scaffold so much that we are communicating low expectations to the student and the rest of the class?

How students see themselves is directly related to their resilience in school. (Video: young black children pick white doll as more attractive and "good") We are opening up more AP opportunities for minority students, but are they like the canaries in the mine?What do these students need to be successful? verbal code switching and social networks

"As an African American male I enter a class and am already on trial for my race. I don't have a chance to mess up or misbehave. " Teachers must give opportunities for students to make mistakes in safety. Doing AP is often seen by peer group as "acting white". We have to interrupt this type of thinking!

Quality DI begins with a GROWTH Mind Set, moves to student teacher connections, and evolves into community. (At this point we discussed fixed vs. growth mind set for quite awhile. I think we all get this!)

Video clip from 60 Minutes: Hrabowski at UMBC- building cohorts of minority students for math and sciences. Components:
+ Every kid deserves a "goose bump" curriculum
+ Meaning rich
+HARD WORK
+Words of affirmation and support, "We believe in you"
+teacher acceptance of responsibility for student success
+cohort effect
+contagious enthusiasm
+focus, focus, focus

Growth Mind Set: DWECK
1. Success comes from EFFORT.
2. With hard work most kids can and do learn most things.
3. Teachers can override student profile.
4. Keys: high goals, high support, ensure student focus

"The best strategy for Tier 1 is not thinking Tier 2 has the answer."
Planning intentional instruction is the best tier 1 intervention.

A + B = C (COACHING + TEACHER EFFICACY = Educational Outcomes

Efficacy = A teacher's belief that they have the skills, knowledge and understandings necessary to successfully teach all students in the classroom.

We don't need more resources; we need more quality instruction and teacher efficacy.

I have the knowledge, skills and actions to increase deep learning in all of my students. (Efficacy)

DOK- Blow up the chart! Hang it up! We know the language that our students need to be academically successful! This is the language they must know.

What do culturally relevant teaching practices look like? (Video Clip: Room 26) It was an elementary classroom, but there were a lot of solid strategies and ideas.
safe environment, connections, respect, "no one gets kicked out of this room", help each other out, understand who they are and like them anyway, make your room a "secret cave" that is special and distinct from the outside world, don't yell, NO SARCASM ever, personal relationships. PEACOCK moments, be a "warm demander,"