“Our best hope for classrooms that work effectively for each student is to cultivate teachers who care deeply about teaching and the young people they teach; who believe teaching is a calling, not just a job; and who understand that they will become self-actualized professionals (to the degree they are able) who pave the way for their students to also become self-actualized.” Carol Ann Tomlinson, p. 26
Carol Ann Tomlinson spent 21 years as a teacher and administrator and is now the chair of educational leadership at the University of Virginia’s school of education. Tomlinson believes that all children deserve the kind of teacher she describes above. In Leading and Managing a Differentiated Classroom, a new book which Tomlinson coauthored with Marcia Umbeau, the authors set forth a powerful belief system that will help us a teaching force where these characteristics are the norm.
Belief 1: Every student is worthy of dignity and respect. Tomlinson argues “the teacher who both accepts and enacts the principle of human dignity does not look at a class roster and simply see a list of names. That teacher considers teaching to be a stewardship of young lives – a shaping of them.” (p. 28)
Belief 2: Diversity is both inevitable and positive. Human beings are more alike than different, Tomlinson contends, and these differences should “enrich us.” (p. 29)
Belief 3: The classroom should mirror the kind of society in which we want our students to live and lead. The authors call on Richard Villa and Jacqueline Thousand to remind us that “Inclusive education is about … making a commitment to provide each student in the community, each citizen in a democracy, with the inalienable right to belong.” A list of powerful questions follow, including “How do I come to understand my students’ diverse backgrounds and needs so that I can draw on them and build on them effectively?” and “How do I help students create a classroom in which they understand that we all have different entry points into learning, yet share a common need to learn?”
Belief 4: Most students can learn most things that are essential to a given area of study. The authors draw on the work of Carol Dweck to amplify this belief. Dweck’s research demonstrates that we develop one of two different “mind-sets” about intelligence. One is the “fixed mindset,” which suggests that intelligence is fixed and based on innate ability. The other is a “growth mind-set,” where instead of embracing natural ability, one subscribes to the viewpoint that the brain is malleable, like other muscles, and intelligence can be strengthened. “Teachers with a growth mind-set work from the premise that virtually any student can learn anything if the student is willing to work hard and if he or she has support in that effort.” (pp. 31-32)
Belief 5: Each student should have equity of access to excellent learning opportunities. Today’s interdependent world requires that we educate ALL of our students well, not just a select few, as was the case a century ago. Some of the questions accompanying this belief include: “Am I confident that I am ‘teaching up’ to all of my students, rather than ‘watering down’ for some of them?” and “In what ways can I make certain that my most advanced students are being consistently challenged?”
Belief 6: A central goal of teaching is to maximize the capacity of each learner. We don’t often accomplish this goal – for two reasons. “First, we tend to accept a single performance level as adequate or even desirable for a grade level.” And, teachers often see a class as a group, rather than a community of individuals. Differentiation, the authors suggest, “asks teachers to look beyond ‘groupthink’ and to study the evolving profiles of students as individuals.” (p. 36)
As I read and reflected on these six beliefs, I marveled at the potential for students who have teachers who actualize this belief system. I dreamed of gathering stories of teachers who practice these beliefs and are working to become self-actualized. Are you one of these teachers? Could you become one? I’d like to hear your story.
