In Personalized Learning Plan B Might Become Plan A

I recently had a conversation with a Superintendent and his team around the challenges of convincing teachers to change their practice and do more differentiated instruction.  The teachers in this district are all actively using frequent checks for understanding, but many of them do not necessarily adjust their teaching plans based on those checks for understanding; they do not use corrective action.  In other words, they may learn 75% of students do not understand a concept, and yet they still move on the next day teaching the next concept  (note: this is actually very common - when lesson plans are thought out with timelines and scope and sequence changing them can feel pretty uncomfortable at first).  The superintendent said, “We have talked to them about Plan B.  We have said, if the kids don’t get it, you might need to re-teach it.  So what’s your Plan B?”

I thought about it for a minute, remembering what it was like to be a teacher. I remembered that in my classroom I was often focused on getting to what was next and getting through all the materials required --  even if it meant that I left students behind. I replied, “Maybe that’s the problem.  Differentiating shouldn’t be Plan B; it should be Plan A.” 

We know, anecdotally and empirically, that students all learn at a different pace, that they have different needs, and that something that one student gets may go completely over another student’s head.  It is safe to assume, therefore, that in many classrooms a check for understanding will reveal that some students are falling behind, while others are accelerating.  So Plan B should not be to differentiate - Plan A should be to differentiate.  It should be their go-to move.  

The language we use when we talked about personalized learning is so important and so charged. Plan B sounds negative - it is like you made a mistake and need to fix it.  Plan A?  Well that’s not so bad.  

Moving to personalized learning is about changing hearts and minds as much as it is about changing practice.  In our actions, in our language, in the things we talk about when we do PD, in what we say when we observe or coach our teachers and leaders we need to start reinforcing new norms like differentiating instruction.  We need to focus on not just taking in data (whether through verbal or written checks for understanding or longer form formative assessments) but using that data.  And if we use language that reflects this is our new expectation, we will accelerate the speed at which that change occurs.  It won’t happen for every teacher overnight, but slowly but surely teachers will start to develop new game plans and differentiating will be the new Plan A.