If you work in education for any amount of time, you will find that there is nothing new under the sun. Any "new" buzzword that comes along can be found in the history of education under a different name. We swing back and forth from one extreme to another, and every time we come back to an extreme, we think it is something new.
I have addressed the introvert/extrovert swing in a previous post. For years, school was quiet and catered to introverts only. Now, we act like introverts are strange and must be taught to be extroverts. For many years, special needs children were self contained; then they were practically all thrown into the regular classroom. Then some of them were brought back into their own space for at least part of the day. After the launch of Sputnik, education became all about lab sciences. Then, we decided we were leaving out the creatives and decided to prepare everyone for liberal arts degrees. Now, we are back to insisting all kids must be STEM kids. When I was in kindergarten, there was a high emphasis on the value of play. Then, someone decided three-year-olds should start reading, so we sat the kids down. Now, every time I turn around, there is a blog post on the value of play in Finland or somewhere.
Are you tired of swinging back and forth yet? To be fair, the intent behind each of these swings to the extreme comes from a good-hearted place. Research identifies a group of kids that are being neglected, and we feel bad for having ignored their needs. We over-react, making a giant swing in the other direction. We don't even realize that we will still be neglecting the needs of a group; it's just the other group. It's time to jump off the swing!
As you watch the swinging fads come and go, remember that you possess something quite valuable - professional judgement. You know that you have students in your classroom with a variety of needs, not introverts one year and extroverts the next. You know that what will work for everyone is to employ a variety of techniques as often as you can. No one expects you to be all things to all people in every single lesson, but you can spread out techniques throughout a week or a unit. If you use a song to help with a math formula, you help the musicians. If you allow students to draw a concept, you give the visual learners and artistic processors a chance to process. Instead of swinging back and forth, maintain a spin of techniques. This way you are never far from either of the extremes because you spend much of your time between them. Let's turn the swing into a spinning top.
The problem with a swing is that you spend as much time traveling away from one student as you do another. It takes some time to get all the way to the other extreme and a lot of energy to reverse the direction when you realize you have left those students behind. Then the reversal makes you moving away from an entire set of your students again. The beauty of a top is that the spin gives it balance. You are keeping all your students in balance at the same time while quickly spinning around the needs of all your students.
You can give your students choices to show that you acknowledge the differences in their needs. Perhaps there could be a homework assignment in which students have a choice of drawing or writing. Maybe, there could be stations in your classroom for different activities on the same topic. There are thousands of downloadable rubrics on the internet that can be modified to any assignment. I'm not suggesting that students choose for themselves every day or even that they should because there are some things we all need to do together, but if they get to do so once per chapter, they will feel that you acknowledge their needs.
Teachers, you tell your students not to give in to peer pressure, so you shouldn't either. When a new fad comes along, don't jump to adopt it. If you try that, you will wear yourself out, and you will never feel secure. When a new thing comes along, look at it. Figure out which aspects, if any, will work in YOUR lessons. Use the judgement that comes from experience to make decisions for YOUR students. Have the courage to reject whatever aspect of the latest "thing" does not fit into YOUR classroom. You don't have to stay on the swing. Jump off and start spinning for everyone.
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