Differentiation and the Brain. David A. Sousa
survey finds that preteens spend an average of nearly six hours a day using media, while teenagers average more than nine hours a day. These times do not include technology use in the classroom. As we mention in chapter 1, this extensive use of technology is rewiring students’ brains because of neural plasticity—the brain’s ability to reconfigure cerebral networks because of input from its environment.
One of the areas where technology is having a significant impact on brain development involves social skills. Our genetic code is programmed to promote social interaction. However, the large amount of time preteens and teenagers are spending with their digital devices means they are spending less time interacting with real people in face-to-face conversation. They are not learning about the importance of nonverbal cues (such as body language, eye contact, emotional displays, and facial changes) during conversation, and failure to understand these cues can lead to misinterpretations of the speaker’s message. Device-centered communications can also provoke a lack of discretion, whereby individuals write comments that would get them in serious trouble if said in person. Someone can send an unfavorable and potentially damaging comment to millions of people in just seconds.
Teachers can be a valuable resource in helping students understand the value of in-person social interactions, and talking with a teacher and peers about new learning can help establish sense and meaning. Class discussions could touch on the perils of not thoroughly thinking through comments people make on social media and the danger of not recognizing the value of having empathy for fellow students.
Empathy Is Very Important
For teacher-student relationships to be effective, teachers must be empathetic and attempt to perceive the world through their students’ eyes. Students who have caring relationships with their teachers perform better academically than students who do not. Further, empathy can potentially foster openness, attentiveness, and positive relationships, especially in culturally diverse classrooms. Being open and flexible helps teachers adjust to varying contexts and improves their ability to differentiate instruction and curriculum to fit their students’ needs (Carter, 2015; Gay, 2010; McAllister & Irvine, 2002).
Empathetic teachers ask themselves if they would want someone to say or do to them what they have just said or done to a student, colleague, or parent. For instance, teachers sometimes try to motivate underperforming students by urging them to “try harder.” Although the remark may be well intentioned, the teacher is assuming the students are unwilling to expend the time and energy necessary to succeed. Consequently, students frequently construe this comment to be accusatory and judgmental. When students feel accused, they are less apt to be cooperative. The teacher’s comment fails to lead to the desired results, which, in turn, may further reinforce the teacher’s belief that the students are unmotivated.
Students Should Feel a Sense of Ownership of Their Education
Teachers who believe students should feel ownership of their education and success welcome frequent student input. Whenever students feel their voice is being heard, they tend to work cooperatively with teachers and are more motivated to meet their academic challenges (Broom, 2015; Carroll et al., 2009; McQuillan, 2005). Further, having a voice reinforces their feelings of personal agency and responsibility, which are essential ingredients of a positive school climate. One good way to give students a sense of ownership is to ask them to consider what rules are needed in the classroom for all students to feel comfortable and learn best.
Teachers Should Identify and Reinforce Each Student’s Areas of Competence
Too often we focus on our students’ problems and vulnerabilities and afford little time to reinforcing their strengths and competencies. One obvious strategy for helping students feel competent is to teach them in the ways they learn best. Because each student has different learning needs and strengths, teachers should familiarize themselves with such topics as multiple intelligences, learning-style characteristics, and gender- and culture-influenced learning preferences. We discuss each of these topics in detail and consider their implications for differentiating instruction in chapter 7 (page 149).
Another strategy for enhancing a sense of competence is to offer students opportunities to help others. For example, older students with learning problems could read to younger students, or students of varying abilities could work together as a team, bringing their own unique strengths to different projects. Students experience more positive feelings toward school and are more motivated to learn if encouraged to contribute to the school environment.
Teachers Should Address Fears of Failure and Humiliation
As we mention previously, fear is an intense emotional response that shuts down higher cognitive processes so the brain can focus on the source of the fear and decide how to deal with it. Deciding how to manage fear is the responsibility of the brain’s frontal lobe. In children and adolescents, the frontal lobe is not fully developed, so it has limited ability to interpret and dampen the fear response.
One of the greatest obstacles to learning is the fear of making mistakes. Because many students equate making mistakes with feeling humiliated, they will avoid learning tasks that appear too challenging. Effective teachers know that to prevent this situation, it is best to openly address these fears with students. One technique for lessening students’ fear of failure is for teachers to share stories from their own school days about being afraid of or actually making mistakes, such as failing a test. Their openness may invite students to share some of their thoughts and feelings about making mistakes. Teachers can ask what they can do and what the students can do as a class to minimize the fear of failure.
By sharing their own experiences of making mistakes, teachers can help lower students’ fear of failure.
Discipline Is a Teaching Process
Discipline is a process for teaching acceptable behaviors rather than a process of intimidation and humiliation. Classes with well-planned, engaging lessons rarely have discipline problems because students feel successful while taking part in meaningful learning experiences. Their cerebral reward circuits activate and avoid distracting behaviors. When a behavior problem does arise, teachers who believe discipline is a way of teaching remind the student of the appropriate behavior and attempt later to determine the cause of the misbehavior. The emphasis is always on what the student did and not on who the student is, and on understanding and addressing the reasons for the misbehavior rather than on punishing it.
In these classrooms, teachers start every day with the expectation that students will behave appropriately. They have a few rules all students clearly understand. They enforce the rules consistently, act fairly, deal with discipline problems immediately and with the least amount of interruption, avoid confrontations in front of students, and know how to use humor (not sarcasm) to defuse tense situations. See chapter 8 (page 179) for specific suggestions on leading and managing a differentiated classroom.
Fixed and Growth Mindsets
Carol Dweck (2006) has spent much of her career examining people’s mindsets about learning—about what it means to be smart and how success happens. Her work is profoundly important for educators, reminding us how our preconceptions shape our beliefs and actions—as well as the beliefs and actions of the students we teach. These ideas are particularly significant for the teaching philosophy of differentiation. Dweck (2006) finds through decades of research that at a young age, we develop either a fixed or a growth mindset about the origins of ability and success. Those who develop a fixed mindset accept the premise that we are born smart or not smart—able or not able—in a particular domain. In this line of thinking, environments can contribute to our smart quotient or prospects for success, but the genetic predisposition to be a good mathematician or a poor one, a great soccer player or a mediocre one, is so strong that it will win the day in determining the likelihood that an individual will do well in a given pursuit.
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