Keys to Successful Teaching: An Interview with Carol Ann Tomlinson (Part 2)

In the second part of Cathy Gassenheimer’s conversation with teaching expert and University of Virginia scholar Carol Ann Tomlinson, she talks about respect and high expectations for both students and teachers. Best of all, she shares a memorable list of enduring truths about being a teacher that we think will ring true for every committed educator here in the Thanksgiving season. For more background about Carol Ann and her latest book from ASCD, Assessment and Student Success in a Differentiated Classroom, see Part 1 of the interview.

Cathy Gassenheimer: You have such a strong moral compass. All of your readings speak of respect for students, holding high expectations for both students and yourself. In what ways were these attitudes/dispositions developed? What can we learn from your learning?

Carol Ann Tomlinson: My students have always been my best teachers. I began teaching in a very complicated setting in the rural South in the early days of forced integration. Emotions were high and it was easy to see the nation’s struggles in the students who came to me every day.

Their courage was often my mentor. On the other hand, they were high school kids who needed someone to “see” them and trust them and believe in them. They taught me the power of laughter – and, because of their limited experience outside of their small community, the power of teaching to open up the world. Their lives were very different from mine in many ways – more “restricted” or closed off from the larger world—and yet they knew so many things I didn’t know that I saw quickly they were my teachers as much as I was their teacher.

As an adolescent, I swore vehemently that I would never be a teacher. Until the day I entered the classroom accidentally, I held tight to that vow. On that day, I began to realize the “profound humanity” of the young people with whom I worked – and I’ve never wanted to do anything other than teach since that point. I guess the bottom line is that students help me explore and find evolving answers to questions about life’s meaning. Pretty cool job!

Cathy: In the preface of Assessment and Student Success in a Differentiated Classroom, you remind us that, no matter what the context – implementing new standards or something else – there are some enduring realities or truths that are critical for teachers to use in their daily practice to ensure that students not only learn but are well-prepared and become life-long learners. Would you elaborate on those truths?

Carol Ann: There are many realities or truths that contribute to successful teaching as I see it. Among them are these:

► Teachers affect human beings. We are co-architects of young lives. We need to work hard never to forget that. Every kid who comes our way will be stronger or diminished because of our presence in their lives.

► We don’t teach students well if we don’t believe in their capacity to succeed. Kids are icebergs, with most of their potential hidden from us. Teaching robustly is an act of faith that what’s under the water can carry the day.

► The nature of a learning environment is powerfully important – probably more powerful than any other classroom element. It merits our constant attention and guidance. We need to build successful teams of learners who pull together to support the success of everyone on the team.

► Quality curriculum honors and represents our belief in the people we teach. Often, we teach “good stuff” to kids we deem to be smart and successful and teach insipid things to kids we deem to be “slow” or “average” learners.” Great curriculum acts as a catalyst for talent identification and talent development. All kids benefit from the good stuff! Every kid deserves a learning adventure every day.

► Effective use of formative assessment is a tool to help us enact a fundamental promise to students: that we are there for them and will help them pave the way to success. Good formative assessment is a tool to help us calibrate instruction so that each student can grow consistently from his or her entry point into the content.

► Addressing student readiness, interest, and approach to learning is a logical outgrowth of formative assessment and persistent reflection on our students. It’s not an option or an extra – or ought not to be.

► We have to learn to “lead” students in the classroom to share with us and create with us a vision of a place that works for every kid. Together, we have to build routines and processes that balance young people’s need for both predictability and flexibility. The classroom needs to belong to all of us who inhabit it – and each of us needs to be accountable for its success. It’s too lonely and too risky when all of that falls on the teacher.

► Excellent teaching is “teaching against the grain.” The pressures to conform to norms are great, and resisting those pressures can be difficult.

Teaching is hard. Excellent teachers work really hard. There is no important job that doesn’t require really hard work for high quality results. There is no job that has higher stakes than teaching. It’s not the right work for someone who is interested in an 8:00-3:30 job. Teaching consumes excellent teachers, but it also creates them in ways that enhance both their work and their personhood.