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All the best to all students for Peperiksaan Sumatif 1 ! :) Do your best!

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All the best to all students for Peperiksaan Sumatif 1 ! :) Do your best!

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Looking for best ideas & approach to teach speaking for low & intermediate students

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[Journal] Teaching Debate to ESL Students

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[Journal] Teaching Debate to ESL Students

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The Internet TESL Journal Daniel Krieger
shinyfruit [at] yahoo.com
Siebold University of Nagasaki (Nagasaki, Japan)

Introduction

Debate is an excellent activity for language learning because it engages students in a variety of cognitive and linguistic ways. The purpose of this paper is to elaborate upon this point by providing a step-by-step guide that will give teachers everything they need to know for conducting debate in an English class.

So, why debate? In addition to providing meaningful listening, speaking and writing practice, debate is also highly effective for developing argumentation skills for persuasive speech and writing. Davidson (1996) wrote that "with practice, many students show obvious progress in their ability to express and defend ideas in debate [and] they often quickly recognize the flaws in each other's arguments." Nisbett (2003) declares: "Debate is an important educational tool for learning analytic thinking skills and for forcing self-conscious reflection on the validity of one's ideas (210)." Fukuda (2003), in a debate study conducted with Japanese students, found that "before the debates only 30.8% of the students were not afraid of expressing their opinions when they were not the same as others'. After the debate this figure rose to 56.7%." He went on to say that "the knowledge or skills which came from the practice in the debates led the students to become more accustomed to expressing opinions." This suggests that, although debate is quite challenging, non-native speakers can develop the debating skills which are described in this paper.

Six-Class Unit Plan

The following six-class unit can be adapted to suit a variety of teaching contexts. I have been refining it while teaching a weekly 90 minute debate class.

Class One: Introduction to Debate

1. Basic Terms

Debate: a game in which two opposing teams make speeches to support their arguments and disagree with those of the other team.

Resolution: the opinion about which two teams argue.

Affirmative team: agrees with the resolution.

Negative team: disagrees with the resolution.

Rebuttal: explains why one team disagrees with the other team.

Judges: decide the winner.

2. Opinions and Reasons

A resolution is an opinion about which there can be valid disagreement. The students either agree or disagree with the resolution regardless of what they personally believe. An opinion can be introduced by an opinion indicator:

"I think/believe that smoking should be banned in public places..."

A reason explains why that opinion is held and can be introduced by a reason indicator:

"...because/since secondhand smoke is harmful for nonsmokers."

3. Strong Reasons Versus Weak Reasons:

According to LeBeau, Harrington, Lubetsky (2000), a strong reason has the following qualities:

it logically supports the opinion.

it is specific and states the idea clearly.

it is convincing to a majority of people.

To give examples of strong reasons versus weak reasons, the teacher can develop a multiple-choice exercise such as the following:

Smoking should be banned in public places because:

it is bad.

it gives people bad breath and makes their teeth yellow.

secondhand smoke is harmful for nonsmokers.

The students ought to explain why some reasons are strong and others are weak based on the above criteria.

In pairs, have students practice generating reasons for opinions. The resolutions/opinions can be generated by the students (as the four resolutions listed below), the teacher, or taken from the following online debate resource, which offers resolutions, reasons and debating tips:

Part 1: With Your Partner, Think of at Least One Strong Reason for Each Resolution

1. Women should quit their job after they get married.
REASON:

2. Love is more important than money.
REASON:

3. It is better to be married than single.
REASON:

4. Writing by hand is better than writing by computer.
REASON:

Part 2: Now Compare Your Reasons with Another Pair and Decide Whose Reasons are Stronger and Why

4. Ways to State Reasons: Review the Following for Linguistic Scaffolding

Comparison: X is _____ er than Y. OR: X is more _____ than Y.

Cause-and-effect: X causes Y. OR: If you do X, then Y will happen.

5. Generating Resolutions: The Students Generate Their Own Resolutions

Explain that issues about which people are likely to disagree work best for debate. They can be controversial: the death penalty should be banned; or less divisive: love is more important than money.

For homework or in class, the students brainstorm a list of resolutions. Students can get their ideas from topics discussed or read about in class or topics which interest them personally. Then the students hand in their list of resolutions and the teacher selects the most suitable ones which the students later choose from.

Class Two: Supporting Your Opinion

1. Warm-up

Begin each lesson with a fun practice activity which gets the students generating reasons for opinions. An argumentation exercise like one that I developed called "The Devil's Advocate" (see appendix 1) is useful for this purpose and can be used multiple times simply by changing the resolutions. Another good kind of activity for giving reasons is any prioritization task in which the students rank items on a list, giving reasons for their choices.

2. Giving Support for Your Reasons

Support consists of evidence. The four kinds of evidence, adapted from LeBeau, Harrington, Lubetsky (2000), are:

Example: from your own experience or from what you heard or read.

Common Sense: things that you believe everybody knows.

Expert Opinion: the opinions of experts -- this comes from research.

Statistics: numbers -- this also comes from research.

Smoking should be banned in all public places.

Example: For example / for instance / let me give an example

Whenever I go to a restaurant or bar and there are people smoking near me, I feel that I am breathing their smoke. This makes me a smoker even though I don't want to be.

Common Sense: Everyone knows / if...then / it's common knowledge that

Secondhand smoke is very unhealthy for nonsmokers.

Statistics:

Secondhand smoke causes about 250,000 respiratory infections in infants and children every year, resulting in about 15,000 hospitalizations each year.

Expert Opinion: According to.../ to quote.../ the book _____ says...

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, "secondhand smoke causes approximately 3,000 lung cancer deaths in nonsmokers each year."

3. Practice

Have the students practice making examples/common sense support. They can develop these from reasons that they came up with in the prior class (see third activity).

Class Three: Debate Structure

1. Warm-up

Do argumentation exercise (see class two warm up).

2. Form Teams

Two or three students form a team.

3. Considering Resolutions

Give each team the resolutions culled by the teacher from the ones generated by the students. Instruct students to mark the resolutions which interest them.

4. Selecting Resolutions and Sides

Pair up two teams and have them compare their lists and decide on a resolution for their debate. They then pick sides-affirmative or negative.

5. Formal Debate Structure

Give students the following debate structure, adapted from LeBeau, Harrington, Lubetsky (2000). See appendix 2 for an additional format option which I developed for a less formal, more conversational debate.

Speech 1: The first affirmative speaker introduces the topic and states the affirmative team's first argument.

Speech 2: The first negative speaker states their first argument.

Speech 3: The second affirmative speaker states their second argument.

Speech 4: The second negative speaker states their second argument.

Give a 5-10 minute break for each team to prepare their rebuttal speech.

Speech 5: The negative team states two rebuttals for the affirmative team's two arguments and summarizes their own two reasons.

Speech 6: The affirmative team states two rebuttals for the negative team's two arguments and summarizes their own two reasons.

6. Brainstorming Arguments

Clarify for the students that each argument consists of a stated reason followed by ample support. Get students to brainstorm reasons for their resolution and then select the best two which will be used for their arguments. The teacher should model brainstorming on the board with a simple resolution to demonstrate how the brainstorming process works.

7. Homework

Have the students complete two arguments. Note: it is not acceptable to write the arguments in L1 and then translate into English. Arguments should be written in clear and simple English that can be easily understood by peers.

Class Four: Predicting and Refuting the Other Team's Arguments

1. Warm-up

Do argumentation exercise (see class two warm up).

2. Predicting the Other Team's Arguments

Each team brainstorms a list of strong reasons that their opponents could use.

3. Four Step Rebuttal

STEP 1: "They say ..."

State the argument that you are about to refute so that the judges can follow easily. Take notes during your opponent's speeches so you will be clear about what they argued.

"The other team said that smoking is harmful for nonsmokers."

STEP 2: "But I disagree..." Or "That may be true, but..."

"That may be true, but I think that if nonsmokers want to avoid cigarette smoke, they can walk away from it."

STEP 3: "Because ..."

"Because nonsmokers should look out for their own health."

STEP 4: "Therefore..."

"Therefore it is not the responsibility of smokers to protect nonsmokers."

4. Writing Rebuttals

The students compose short rebuttals for the strongest three opposing team's arguments that they predicted.

5. Giving Feedback

The teacher meets with each group and reviews their arguments and rebuttals, challenging students to question their reasoning.

Class Five: Judging and Final Practice

1. Warm-up

Do argumentation exercise (see class 2 warm up).

2. Judging

The students will be the judges. In the judging form below which I developed, the students must show evidence that they have listened carefully. The teacher can evaluate the judging forms to give students an incentive to put effort into judging. A different type of judging form and guidelines can be found in LeBeau, Harrington, Lubetsky (2000).

Speech 1: The Affirmative Team's First Argument
Note: the same format is used for speech 1-4

Summarize the REASON here:

Is this reason clear? ____/1　Is this reason strong? 　 ____/1

Summarize the SUPPORT here:

Is the support clear?　 ____/1　 Good examples/common sense: ____/1
Expert opinion/statistics: ____/1

Speech 5:　The Negative Team's Rebuttal
Note: the same format is used for speech 5-6 (four rebuttals)

REBUTTAL for the first argument:
They disagree because...

Therefore...

Is this rebuttal clear? ____/1
Did they use a strong because and therefore? ____/1

3. Judging Practice

To give the students practice in judging, the teacher performs speeches of a mock debate. Students listen, fill in the form, and then compare results.

4. Final Practice

The students practice delivering their argument speeches and doing rebuttals against their own arguments.

Note: if students have no experience or are shaky in public speaking, the teacher could devote an additional class before the debate to provide training in essentials such as: eye contact, pacing, pausing, gesture.

Class Six: The Debate

During the debate: the students fill in the judging form during the debate and students can consult with a partner for help with clarification after each debate.

Following the debate: the students submit the judging forms, the teacher adds up the scores and announces the winners.

Also, the students hand in their argument and rebuttal speeches for which the teacher provides feedback on strong points and things to work on. For an example of a student's debate speech from my class, see appendix 3.

Conclusion

The six-class unit described in this paper contains an outline, principles and materials for conducting a debate. Because there are few published debate materials for non-native speakers, the teacher needs to develop and adapt materials to suit their situational needs. It is hoped that this article provides teachers who are interested in debate with enough to get started. The rest can be learned through trial and error and sharing with other teachers in order to discover the variety of ways that debate can be creatively applied to teaching English.

Appendix 1: The Devil's Advocate

You have two minutes to argue one side of each resolution. When you hear "SWITCH," you will have two minutes to argue the opposite side of the resolution.

Then move on to the next one.

1. All Japanese writing should be in Roman letters.

2. It is better to be single than married.

3. Women should stop working when they get married and have babies.

4. Women should not change their family name when they get married.

Appendix 2: Format for Interactive Debate

Seating Arrangement: students facing each other. Two or three students per team.

1. Affirmative team: argument 1

2. Negative team's rebuttal

3. Affirmative team's response to rebuttal and open discussion

4. Negative team: argument 1

5. Affirmative team's rebuttal

6. Negative team's response to rebuttal and open discussion

7. Affirmative team: argument 2

8. Negative team's rebuttal

9. Affirmative team's response to rebuttal and open discussion

10. Negative team: argument 2

11. Affirmative team's rebuttal

12. Negative team's response to rebuttal and open discussion

13. Affirmative team's closing comments

14. Negative team's closing comments

Appendix 3: A Student's Debate Speech (edited)

Resolution: Personality is more important than looks. (Affirmative argument)

Reason: People never lose interest in looking at a person who has a
good personality and living with them always makes us feel pleasant.

For example, my friendly neighbor in China has twin brothers. The elder brother married a very beautiful girl. But after the first month, he had a quarrel with her because the beautiful wife spent all of her time dressing herself up without doing any housework. And she always went out on dates with many boyfriends. Finally he divorced his beautiful wife last year. But the younger brother who married an ordinary looking girl with a good personality has a very happy married life now and they have a lovely 3 year old baby now.

Common sense

In China it is said, "Don't choose beautiful person to be your wife." Because the beautiful wife spends more time dressing herself up without doing housework or child care than the not beautiful wife. And the beautiful wife always spends a lot of money on clothing and cosmetics.

Expert opinion & Statistics

Psychologists at Yale University investigated 3,519 married men's life spans. According to the report, the men who married a beautiful wife had a shorter life than the men who married an not beautiful wife. The degree of beauty was in direct proportion to the husbands' life-spans. In the study, there was a scale of 1-20 points: 20 points is the most beautiful wife and 1 point the least beautiful wife. The result was that men who had a wife who scored 1-12 points lived 12 years longer than men whose wife scored 13-20 points.

References

Davidson, Bruce (1995) Critical thinking education faces the challenge of Japan. Inquiry: Critical Thinking Across the Disciplines. XIV (3)

Fukuda, Shinji (2003) Attitudes toward argumentation in college EFL classes in Japan. Proceedings of the First Asia TEFL International Conference. Pusan, Korea. pp. 417-418

LeBeau, Charles & Harrington, David & Lubetsky, Michael (2000) Discover debate: basic skills for supporting and refuting opinions. Language Solutions

Nesbett, Richard E. (2003) The geography of thought. The Free Press

The Internet TESL Journal, Vol. XI, No. 2, February 2005
http://iteslj.org/ http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Krieger-Debate.html

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Teaching Debate to ESL Students: A Six-Class Unit

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guides teachers through a 6-lesson unit that teaches esl/efl students how to debate=

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[Article] Teacher Response to Student Needs: A Starting Point for Differentiation

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[Article] Teacher Response to Student Needs: A Starting Point for Differentiation

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by Carol Ann Tomlinson

The good teacher communicates a deep regard for students' lives, a regard infused with unblinking attention, respect, even awe. An engaged teacher begins with the belief that each student is unique, each the one and only who will ever trod the earth, each worthy of a certain reverence. Regard extends, importantly, to an insistence that students have access to the tools with which to negotiate and transform the world. Love for students just as they are-without any drive or advance toward a future-is false love, enervating and disabling (Ayres, Klonsky, & Lyon, 2000, pp. 2-3).

It is no small thing to ask teachers to be fox tamers-to establish ties with all of their students. Where are they to find the time to form ties with even one student in the press to cover the curriculum, complete paperwork, attend meetings, set up for the next day-and have a life?

The excuses for not connecting personally with students are legion-and not without legitimacy. There are too many students. The time is too short. There is only one level of textbook in the class, only one set of standards for all. The room is too small. Materials are lacking. Kids don't come to us knowing how to be independent learners. We were not trained or hired to be social workers or psychologists. We don't know how to think about cultures different from our own. We are already consumed by the job.

Nonetheless, sometimes we shove past those reservations and make ties with our students. Some of us consistently ignore these reservations and really get to know our students, becoming the kind of teachers who shape their students' lives to reflect a greater hope, confidence, and promise than these young people brought to the classroom as the year began.

What propels some of us to form bonds with kids as a way of life? Perhaps these fox-taming teachers continue to nurture and sustain a greater sense of the full possibilities of school in the lives of young people.

Barbara Kingsolver (1997) reminds us that the very least we ought to expect of ourselves is that we figure out what we hope for in this life. The most we can do, she continues, is to make sure we live inside our hopes, rather than admiring them from a distance. Perhaps those teachers who are successful in forming bonds with students remember the dreams of the novice teacher clearly enough that they inhabit those dreams daily. The way we "do school" often makes it easy to forget why teaching once seemed the best job in the world and makes it easy to lose sight of what we once hoped for.

What Was Our Vision for the Classroom?

People enter the teaching profession for various reasons, of course. For many who elect to teach, however, there is an early sense of enormous possibilities arising from the intersection of young energy, adult mentorship of the energy, and the limitless possibilities of learning. In some sort of naïve way, we know as beginning teachers that the classroom is a microcosm of the world; to fashion a dynamic and positive classroom is to contribute in real ways to a more dynamic and positive world. We feel we have the capacity as teachers to both express and extend a vision of the way the world should be (Apple & Beane, 1995).

Although our language for the vision is fuzzy (and our sense of how to accomplish the vision is virtually nonexistent), we sense as novices that we are destined to be much more than dispensers of information, sergeants of behavior, and captains of the test prep. Had we more sophistication, we would agree that classrooms are places designed to forge democracy, dignity, and diversity (Beane, 1990). We would affirm that schools exist to prepare young people to contribute to their world as informed thinkers, thoughtful citizens, and decent human beings-that we are entering a moral contract between ourselves, our students, and our society to contribute in every way possible to those outcomes (Sizer & Sizer, 1999).

When she was told that her faculty was remarkable, Deborah Meier (1995), a remarkable principal and educational visionary, agreed. She explains, however, that her school's staff is not remarkable because they are more gifted than other teachers or because they have taught longer or because they went to more exclusive colleges. They are remarkable, says Meier, because they live what they believe.

Such teachers are surely aware of the constraints and imperfections of schools. Somehow, they see the possibilities more clearly than the impossibilities. They look beyond those things they cannot change toward the young people, learning environments, curricula, and instruction they can change.

These teachers ultimately say to their students, "I want to be a leader in creating a place where each of you becomes more keenly aware of the possibilities in yourself, the people around you, and the power of knowledge. In this place, I want us to find together a good way to live."

Such teachers are not perfect people. They lose sight of the vision from time to time. When they do, however, they understand that they have lost their compass, and they hunt for "North" until they find their way again. They have no road map for the journey. It is their expectation, nonetheless, that they will learn more than they teach and that each discovery will reveal another step along the way.

Thus, if the student says, "I need affirmation, contribution, power, purpose, and challenge," such a teacher replies, "I will respond to those needs. Otherwise, how would I assume I could truly teach you? Otherwise, how would I assume we could build together a place in which we can all become what we are meant to be?"

Teacher Responses to Student Needs

There are at least five ways in which a teacher can respond to the student's needs for affirmation, contribution, power, purpose, and challenge. They are not ancillary to teaching but are at the core of effective teaching. They are not separate from the learner's needs but are outcroppings of those needs. And as we will see later, they are not apart from curriculum and instruction, but they breathe life into it.

Once again, we'll examine five key teacher responses to student needs (see Figure 3.1). Feel free to add others to the list or to modify it as your knowledge, experience, and perspectives suggest.

Figure 3.1. The Teacher Responds

What Do the Elements Mean? Invitation

I have respect for who you are and who you can become.

I want to know you.

You are unique and valuable.

I believe in you.

I have time for you.

I learn when I listen to you.

This place is yours, too.

We need you here.

Opportunity

I have important things for you to do here today.

The things I ask you to do are worthy things.

The things I ask you to do are often daunting.

The things I ask you to do open new possibilities for you.

The things I give you to do here help you become all you can be.

You have specific roles that make us all more efficient and effective.

Investment

I work hard to make this place work for you.

I work to make this place reflect you.

I enjoy thinking about what we do here.

I love to find new paths to success.

It is my job to help you succeed.

I am your partner in growth.

I will do what it takes to ensure your growth.

Persistence

You're growing, but you're not finished growing.

When one route doesn't work, there are others we can find.

Let's figure out what works best.

There are no excuses here, but there is support.

There is no finish line in learning.

Reflection

I watch you and listen to you carefully and systematically.

I make sure to use what I learn to help you learn better.

I try to see things through your eyes.

I continually ask, "How is this partnership working?"

I continually, ask, "How can I make this better?"

The Response of Invitation

If the first request of the child is for affirmation, the first response of the teacher is, "This will be a good place for you." The invitation to learn is of prime importance. It must be issued as the learner first enters the learning place-and reissued continually. Although the learner yearns for connection, it is also a risky endeavor: "What if the teacher looks past me rather than into me? What if the teacher rejects my culture, is put off by my rough edges? What if my best is deemed inadequate?" Consciously or unconsciously, the young person continues to measure the benefits against the risks. The teacher who intends to make ties with the student is permanently attuned to factors that enhance the invitation and minimize the risk for each learner and for the class as a whole.

To issue the invitation, the teacher's demeanor, words, and actions need to communicate the following:

I respect who you are as well as who you can become.

I want to know you.

You are unique and valuable.

I believe in you.

I have time for you.

I learn when I listen to you.

This place is yours too.

We need you here.

These affirmations are rooted in a belief that each child is fully worthy of respect simply because of his or her humanity. "Because you are a human being, endowed with the value and possibilities of humanity," believes the teacher, "I must treat you with dignity." Not only is dignity an unconditional entitlement of the child as a person, but it is also the gateway to self-esteem and, ultimately, to self-efficacy. Further, regard for the young person's humanity-complete with an ethic of caring-is essential to creating a community that models the way we ought to live together in the world (Beane, 1990; Sizer & Sizer, 1999).

With educational decision making grounded squarely in the dignity of each individual, the teacher's plans and actions radiate outward, and the implications of that core belief become evident:

I have to get to know each child because I can accord each young person dignity only as I know and value the background, hopes, dreams, and fears of that particular individual. No child feels honored if he or she is seen as an interchangeable part-a widget like thousands of other widgets-a nameless entity with no identity outside the classroom and a sketchy one at best inside.

To know you, I must find many ways to listen to you and to learn about you. Even though I am dogged by the scarcity of time, I must help you sense that I have time for you.

Further, I must not only learn about you, I must learn from you. Unless the sharing enriches me, I will not be fed professionally or personally, and I will be less of a person and less of a professional than I could be. To learn to see the world through your eyes clarifies my own vision. If I study your culture, I am clearer about the influences that have shaped me. If I think about gender influences on your life, I understand more fully how gender has shaped me. If I understand your fears and dreams, my own stand in sharper relief. And, if I continually reflect on what you understand-or misunderstand-about what we are studying, I am sharper in grasping how meaning can be crafted through the content of the curriculum I teach.

I cannot accord you dignity unless I make you my partner in creating a classroom that mirrors the world we both want to live in. I must help you discover that you are unique and valuable among the group of us, even as I continue to guide you in reflecting on the uniqueness and value of each other member of the group. We must all come to believe in the huge potential each of us has to grow and develop-and actively support and celebrate that growth and development in every member of the classroom community. For the classroom to work, we must each be contributors to its success.

The classroom must be ours, not mine. The rules for living in the classroom must be our rules. The solutions to problems must be our solutions. The procedures we follow must come from a shared logic about how things need to work here for each of us to succeed.

The teacher's invitation-rooted in an unerring belief in the worth and dignity of each learner and multiplied to the classroom society that teacher and students will develop-becomes the catalyst for most of the decisions that will follow throughout the year. The teacher's invitation not only responds directly to the student's need for affirmation and contribution, but it also begins to respond to the student's need for power, purpose, and challenge.

First-year teacher Esmé Codell (1999) exemplifies invitation in many aspects of her work-even at the starting gate of teaching:

In the morning, three things happen religiously. I say good morning real chipper to every single child and make sure they say good morning back. Then I collect "troubles" in a "Trouble Basket," a big green basket into which the children pantomime unburdening their home worries so they can concentrate on school. . . .This way, too, I can see what disposition the child is in when he or she enters. Finally, before the child can come in, they must give me a word, which I print on a piece of tagboard and they keep in an envelope. It can be any word, but preferably one that they heard and don't really know or one that is personally meaningful. . . .We go over the words when we do our private reading conferences. . . . It takes a long time to get in the door this way, but by the time we are in, I know every kid has had and given a kind greeting, has had an opportunity to learn, and has tried to leave his or her worries on the doorstep. Some kids from other classes sneak into our line to use the Trouble Basket or to get a word card (pp. 30-31).

The Response of Opportunity

If, as a teacher, my belief in you is unerring, and if I accord you the full dignity due human beings, I will do all I can to ensure that you will become all you should be. That means my goal will be to provide you maximum opportunity to develop your possibilities. To communicate that opportunity to students, the teacher's demeanor, words, and actions must continually say the following:

I have important things for you to do here today.

The things I ask you to do are worthy things.

The things I ask you to do are often daunting.

The things I ask you to do open new possibilities for you.

The things I give you to do here help you become all you can be.

You have specific roles here that make us all more efficient and effective.

Simply put, opportunity is more closely related to exhilaration than to drudgery. Genuine opportunity may be frightening, because it seems out of reach, but it is seldom stultifying. Opportunity requires hard work, but it is work with a purpose-it is work in pursuit of a dream. Said one science teacher who lives this philosophy, "We don't just keep them busy. We're giving them an opportunity" (Carter, 2001, p. 70).
To provide opportunity is to provide materials, tasks, applications, and problems that are rich with meaning for learners. To provide opportunity is to help learners have a voice in what and how they learn and to find their own voice through what they study. It is to feed the learner's curiosity and challenge the learner's natural drive toward competence (Meier, 1995).

Opportunity mandates that each child have a high-status education. That is, each learner must be supported in gaining maximum access to and proficiency with the knowledge, ideas, and skills that open the doors to both present and future opportunity. Opportunity recognizes and extends as far as possible the potential of each individual to develop systems of knowledge and habits of thought and practice that typify successful, contributing adults.

Opportunity means enlivening the classroom. It means enlivening minds. It means creating for each learner the sorts of learning experiences we would have wished for ourselves and for our own children. In the end, opportunity is inclusive of each individual, fosters positive attitudes about self and learning, enhances meaning in both school and life, and engenders competence (Ginsberg & Wlodkowski, 2000).

Principal Helen DeBerry (Carter, 2001) explains what opportunity looks like in her Chicago school, where virtually all of the students are from minority and low-income homes and where student achievement is high: "All of our children are expected to work above grade level and to learn for the sake of learning. . . . We instill a desire to overachieve. Give us an average child and we'll make him an overachiever. Last year's 6th grade was reading To Kill a Mockingbird, while another class was writing its own stage play based on the story of the slave ship Amistad" (p. 55).

The Response of Investment

Perhaps the surest way for a teacher to communicate to learners that they are important individually and collectively and that their class work is compelling is for the teacher to model high investment in both the people and content of the classroom. The teacher who communicates investment to learners makes it clear:

I work hard to make this place work for you.

I work to make this place reflect you.

I enjoy thinking about what we do here.

I love to find new paths to success.

It is my job to help you succeed.

I am your partner in growth.

I will do what it takes to ensure your growth.

Immersion in the classroom is evident in invested teachers. They give what it takes to make tomorrow's class work for everyone. Invested teachers are often the ones whose room contains students before school, at lunch, or after school. Students understand that the teacher has time for them and wants to provide both sanctuary and scaffolding for them.

Invested teachers share their thoughts about the classroom with their students. "Yesterday, I noticed some of you were having difficulty with the assignment you were working on," one teacher says as the day's class begins. "I thought about that last night and came up with a couple of new ways to think about the skills. I'll be interested in seeing what you think about the ideas." Beyond the words, the students hear, "We were on her mind last night. She cared enough about our success to give us her time even after we left. She means for us to succeed. She also wants our opinions."

Invested teachers make links with students' lives outside the classroom as well. Whether through making positive contacts with home, providing extracurricular activities, attending student events, or volunteering in the community, the invested teacher reaches out to know and support students in ways that extend what takes place in the classroom.

Invested teachers act as mentors for students, as advocates, and as partners (Beane, 1990; Ginsberg & Wlodkowski, 2000; Sizer & Sizer, 1999). These are roles that extend well beyond the roles of information provider and behavior manager. A mentor is one who works beside another to model important skills and sees to the success of the apprentice with those skills; a mentor makes it possible for individuals to take charge of their head and heart (Sizer & Sizer, 1999). An advocate is a voice in strong support of the individual-one who does what it takes to make certain the individual is heard and represented fairly. A partner is one who not only "acts for people (on their behalf) as 'objects of our care,' but also with them, as mutual 'subjects' in the human experience" (Beane, 1990, p. 62).

Finally, invested teachers are personally engaged in what they ask the students to do. That is, invested teachers work hard at learning, spend free time in pursuit of knowledge, think and puzzle over problems, and get excited about ideas. Invested teachers have clear personal goals toward which they work steadily. Invested teachers exemplify the pursuit of excellence:

There are positive examples that tell their own story. The biology teacher who, spring after spring, tracks the nesting patterns of red-winged blackbirds, dragging his students before dawn into a mosquito-infested swamp to watch and record the movements of the birds. The English teacher who writes poetry and shares it with her students, and not only teaches drama, but directs student performances. The coach who keeps on top of her game, razor-sharp on new rules, plays, and practices and always ready to share them. The custodian who in his work exhibits pride of place and insistently, politely, and persuasively expects students to do likewise. The assistant principal who makes certain he learns the name of every student within a month of the opening of school and who greets and treats each student with knowing familiarity (Sizer & Sizer, 1999, p. 11).

These educators communicate investment. Students do not miss the message. These are teachers invested in what they teach, whom they teach, and where they teach, and the ideals for which they stand. Their messages come not simply from slogans on classroom walls, but from living out their beliefs.

The Response of Persistence

Classrooms are messy with agendas, complex material, and imperfect lives. Procedures designed to make the day go smoothly don't always work the first time-or the fourth. Students don't always grasp ideas on carefully prescribed timetables. Young people are as likely to resist challenge as to embrace it. The teacher needs to help students understand that this is a place where persistence is a hallmark. To do that, the teacher must communicate the following:

You're growing, but you're not finished growing.

When one route doesn't work, there are others we can find.

Let's figure out what works best.

There are no excuses here, but there is support.

There is no finish line in learning.

The teacher who genuinely believes in the possibilities of each individual is not easily discouraged. That teacher does not question the educability of any student-race, class, and prior experience notwithstanding (Ayres, Klonsky, & Lyon, 2000). Different is not a synonym for deficient(Finnan & Swanson, 2000). Although the persistent teacher understands the internal and external impediments to learning faced by nearly every student, even the most able, that teacher recognizes no excuses for inferior work. Instead, there is a predictable support system for moving forward. When a student is "missing the mark," the persistent teacher does not assume the student cannot learn, but rather assumes the student is not learning in the way he is currently being taught. The persistent teacher will find another way. In the eyes of that teacher, when a student fails, the teacher fails (Carter, 2001).
I recently met a retired teacher, now in her late seventies. Hearing that I was in her town to work with teachers on "differentiation," she asked for an explanation of what the term meant. As I tried to encapsulate the meaning of the concept, her eyes sparked. "Oh, I know what you mean," she said and smiled broadly. "When I taught young children, I developed five or six different ways to teach the skills of reading. I just tried different approaches with different children, until I found out the one that worked for that child. If none of the approaches I'd used in the past worked, I developed another way." She continued, "Later, I taught English. I found that some students learned grammar best by diagramming sentences, some by transactional grammar, and some by analyzing signs on the streets and in magazines. There was always a way that would work, if I just kept looking." That's persistence in search of success!

The persistent teacher also models the steady but relentless quest for excellence. The persistent teacher generously acknowledges the distance a student has come academically, but also makes clear the distance each student has yet to go. That teacher helps students realize that the quest for quality never ends. If the quest ends, quality ends with it-and so does the growth of the individual.

The persistent teacher not only points out that learning has no finish line for students, but lives according to that principle as well. That teacher fights "success ego," never succumbing to the sense that she is "good enough" to be exempt from the need to change. "We're all on a journey," the persistent teacher believes, "none of us is ever through striving."

The Response of Reflection

Reflective practice is important, because effective teaching defies any set of "rules for practice." There is no formula for success. Rather, we work in "indeterminate zones of practice" (Schon, 1987), where uncertainty, ambiguity, and uniqueness are key constants in the teacher's world. Indeed, if we accept the premise of the dignity of the individual, recognize the diversity that implies, and combine that with the need to honor the group as well as the individual, we have already entered an indeterminate zone.

From the film Apollo 13, two powerful moments endure. The first comes when astronauts far away from the earth signal back to ground command, "Houston, we have a problem." The second follows when the commander of operations in Houston pulls together a team of experts with varied specialties, outlines the critical nature of their role in trying to save the lives of the astronauts, and concludes with the statement, "Failure is not an option."

Given the nature of the classroom and its inhabitants, young lives are always at risk. There is always a problem. The teacher who believes deeply in the dignity and worth of the individual and the group hears the echo, "Failure is not an option."

The nature of schools is such that teachers must continually address critical problems, serving largely as an expert "team of one." Wise teachers expand their team in a variety of ways-forming partnerships with their students, establishing relationships with like-minded peers who serve as "critical friends," drawing on the expertise of specialists in the building, and actively pursuing advanced professional knowledge through universities, books, and high-quality staff development. Still, by and large teacher expertise develops in proportion to teacher reflection on practice.

Not only do teachers benefit from reflective practice, but students derive important messages from reflective teachers as well. To the student, a reflective teacher communicates the following:

I watch you and listen to you carefully and systematically.

I make sure to use what I learn to help you learn better.

I try to see things through your eyes.

I continually ask, "How is this partnership working?"

"I continually ask, "How can I make this better?"

The reflective teacher questions not only daily practice but also beliefs that should ground that practice. To what degree am I living my beliefs? In what ways does this place dignify or diminish each individual? To what degree am I an example of the kind of learner and person I ask my students to be? To what extent does this class commend the value of diversity in background, opinion, and talent? Am I aiming for a norm or for the best each child has to offer? What do I understand about the differences among people? What do I understand about the things all humans share in common? To what degree does this community we call a classroom help its inhabitants know how to live more effectively with other people? How well does this microworld equip young people for life in the greater world?
To answer these questions, of course, the teacher also reflects on the details of classroom practice. How well am I monitoring student readiness to learn and learning progress? How effectively am I using what I learn from assessment to guide lesson planning and teaching? What else do I need to know about my students' interests and modes of learning? How can I best build a three-dimensional portrait of each learner? At what points are classroom routines clear to everyone, and when do they help us work more effectively? When do they fail us in one way or another? What changes ought I to make in daily details that contribute to the greater goals of the classroom?

Teacher reflection inevitably attends directly to students' need for affirmation, contribution, power, purpose, and challenge. From continual reflection on these and countless other questions, the teacher's practice also becomes ever more intuitive and efficient in addressing student needs. Reflection also supports what Deborah Meier (1995) calls the power to care. It may well be that one of the factors that overwhelms our early visions of the possibilities in classrooms is encountering so many human needs at the very time we are so ill equipped to address them. Feeling such personal inadequacy may compel us to stop looking at the needs-to build a protective wall between the hurt of the young and our disappointment in ourselves.

There is a terrible and pointless pain in powerless caring, and it erodes the capacity for caring. . . .We needed time and again to discover ways to effectively care. Part of it depended on having sufficient power. We kept extensive notes and records of children's work, continuously experimenting with better ways to keep and use such information. We met to work out ways to sharpen our observational skill at understanding children's learning modes and preferences as individuals-what engaged them most deeply, how they responded best to criticism. . . . We worked together to better organize curriculum as well as increase our knowledge about the subjects that our students were studying. . . . We attended all manner of courses and institutes that suited our interests and needs. Being seen as intellectually curious people, modeling what a mathematician, historian, or scientist does, are rock-bottom necessities if kids are to catch on to what we're teaching about. Our desire to teach, after all, needs to be connected always to our enthusiasm and respect for what (and who) we are teaching about (Meier, 1995, p. 133-134).

The Devil Lurks in the Translation

In the musings of this chapter and the previous one, it should be becoming more evident that "differentiated" teaching seems an imperative if we accept the teacher's role in connecting with students. How could we issue an invitation to the risky endeavor of learning if it is a mass-produced invitation? How could we dignify a learner without offering that learner things to do that are important enough to give roots and wings to his or her dreams? How could we learn about the needs of the individual student or attend to those needs without full investment? How could we make it all work for such varied individuals without dogged persistence? How would we find our way and help our students find their individual paths without deep reflection?

It is circular. To establish ties with a student, we must (as the fox explains in The Little Prince) come to see how each student is unlike every other-and to see that, we must form ties with that student.

On some level, it's not so difficult to accept that circular premise. Most of us as teachers mean to see and honor the individual. As always, the devil is in the details. How do we translate abstract ideas into the very daily stuff of classroom life? What do tomorrow's lesson plans have to do with dignity, diversity, and democracy (Beane, 1990)? Chapter 4 will explore ways in which the concrete decisions we make about classroom operation translate into teacher response to learner needs-how those decisions lay the groundwork for thinking about curriculum and instruction.

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Teacher Response to Student Needs: A Starting Point for Differentiation

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by Carol Ann Tomlinson The good teacher communicates a deep regard for students' lives, a regard infused with unblinking attention, respect, even awe. An engaged teacher begins with the belief that each student is unique, each the one and only who will ever trod the earth, each worthy of a certain reverence.