Differentiation: A Radical Solution

Contractually Unique

Individual Education Plans (IEPs), Advanced Learning Plans (ALPs), and 504s - these are contracts between a school and a parent that define:

1. how a child is unique,
2. how their uniqueness hinders the school's expectations for the child to acquire literacy and mathematics learning, and
3. what the school plans to do about it (although not when they will do it).

The first problem is that not everyone qualifies for an IEP, ALP, and/or a 504. Children with the privilege of an IEP, ALP, and/or 504 have two things in common:

1. they present a problem to the school because they prevent things from running with everyone in lockstep, and
2. they have parents who advocate for them.

Another problem that stems from an antiquated model of education that requires these types of contracts is that it grossly limits learning and the natural development of a child. By pre-defining the goals of schooling -which are typically limited to literacy and maths - the many ways that people are brilliant are often overlooked, not valued, and increasingly causing serious problems in today's youth as well as the future of humanity.

Unschooling provides a radical solution to the conundrum of contracts in education because of a fundamental difference in definition of education, our goals, and our methods. And it can be summed up in a word:

TRUST.

The Many Ways People are Brilliant

There are many ways that children are children.

Since my son's diagnosis, I have learned popular a saying: “If you’ve met one child with autism then you’ve met one child with autism.” The sentiment of this popular meme is that each child presents unique set of symptoms that makes it difficult, nay impossible, to treat all autistic children the same. What works for helping one autistic child doesn’t necessarily work for another autistic child, and vice versa.

Most people are comfortable with the idea that every child is unique. The exact differences and the degree to which a person is different seems to the be part of the problem. In my experience, people are open when I mention autism but closed if I mention giftedness. It seems to be acceptable to cheer for the underdog but not the other way around.

However, many parents don't seek help because we're opportunistic, looking for labels or special treatment. We seek help because our children's uniqueness(es) prevent them from participating in life. Like taking care of himself or herself, going to the grocery store, and attending school.

School.

Schools are institutions. And like any large organization there are rules for order. And since schools were developed in the industrial era, with industrial needs, the rules have evolved to reflect the notion of efficiency. Everything is more efficient if everything is the same. (If each bottle is the same size then you can pour the same amount of soda into it. Therefore, if each child is the same then you can pour the same amount of information into it. Differences in the size and shape of the vessel or differences in what goes into it just complicate matters.)

However, our differences are what make us brilliant! Unfortunately, if our brilliance happens to be in a genre that does not manifest in writing or maths then...well then our brilliance (and our self) has secondary value.

That isn't humanity. That isn't life anymore either. And it certainly shouldn't be school.

Reimagining the Purpose of Education

Measurable outcomes drive education. It is a truth that makes my heart sink and one of many reasons I do not want to work in a public school system. Instead, I invite you to reimagine the purpose of education.

Imagine enthusiastic and creative learners.

Imagine teachers who are not cynical or burned out.

Imagine if authenticity and openness guided communication instead of administration protecting themselves from potential lawsuit and parents collecting data to make their case.

Consider our evolving world and imagine the new skills people will need to be happy, healthy, and productive members of society.

What if the goal is no longer driven by academic outcomes?

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What would be the same for all learners?

It wouldn't be the subject matter.

Every child would have the opportunity to develop his or her agency in a safe and unrestricted way.

1. That means that first and foremost a child's basic needs must be met. When his or her needs are met then he or she will thrive as a self-directed learner.
2. It also requires teachers who have the ability to and patience for leading a child to his or her safe space. They must have the personal wherewithal to care for their charges.
3. It will be equally important that teachers are enthusiastic and resourceful learners themselves.

And it all hinges on TRUST.

To trust the child.

To trust the teacher.

To trust the parents.

What would be different?

This is the information age. It seems like there is a website for every common K12 topic as well as websites for uncommon ones, too. In a reimagined world of education our intention would no longer be focused on subject matter. Knowing more scientific facts is not the answer. Mastering more music is not the answer. Doing more maths is not the answer. The next generation will not need to have memorized those things to be successful and productive citizens. They will need to be willing and able to learn them as they inform policy decisions and/or their life's work. Instead, a would-be model of education would focus on Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) and executive functioning.

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The way kids learn to make good decisions is by making decisions, not following directions.

Alfie Kohn

Making decisions is a complex process, one that involves (to varying degrees depending on the situation) all five of the SEL Core Competencies and, additionally, executive function, which I consider the mental/cognitive analog to SEL in young children.

Moreover, it is recognized that weakness in executive function is a common problem among gifted children, and, increasingly, all children. In my home, I sometimes run out of time and/or patience and end up doing things for my son instead of providing the time and tools he needs to develop his executive functioning. In fact, if we are in the midst of a transition things typically become contentious. However, I know that he just needs more practice...

...and it makes sense that children who struggle with making decisions need more practice making decisions.

Davidson Gifted offers this strategy: “As much as possible, try to find goals that parents and children can agree on.” Coming to an agreement, or compromise, would be at the heart of a Self-Directed classroom. Done in a way that is based on the ethics of care and education, students would develop executive function skills using SEL.

At the Heart of Matters

Humanity is a gloriously complex thing. In analyzing teaching and learning, many professionals in many fields have inspected each facet and the ways those facets fit together. I'll just pick three vectors for us to consider:

• Multiple Intelligences
• Topics of Study
• Visual-Spatial versus Auditory-Sequential Learning

And the point from which they radiate is SEL.

When we consider education from this viewpoint, it seems essential that SEL is our primary focus. SEL should not be something we implement like another subject matter.

The volume created by these three vectors is a colorful fluid thing. It reflects the natural ebb and flow of developmentally appropriate learning. It represents how students can use any number of ways to make sense of a single subject, or explore multiple subjects using their strongest inclination.

In my homeschool, I must attend first to my children's SEL. When their needs are met, their learning emerges without coercion, they are engaged, self-motivated, and liberal learners. They explore topics spontaneously that grow organically from our reading, our family life, and our participation in the community. In their short lives we have discussed every subject in a typical course of study (although not in the sequence listed in that link). Their uniquenesses shine as the multifaceted assets they are.

[Topics of Study: Science, Art, Maths, Language Arts, Social Studies, etc...

Multiple Intelligences: Linguistic intelligence (“word smart”), Logical-mathematical intelligence (“number/reasoning smart”), Spatial intelligence (“picture smart”), Bodily-Kinesthetic intelligence (“body smart”), Musical intelligence (“music smart”), Interpersonal intelligence (“people smart”), Intrapersonal intelligence (“self smart”), Naturalist intelligence (“nature smart”)]

Reimagining the Way We Educate: Methods Based on Trust

Methods for teaching and learning in a system based on trust would be different from those based on subject matter acquisition.

Self-directed learning would have free choice as the key feature. That is not to say that it would be a free-for-all. Children and adults would share the space and necessarily must negotiate how the space will be shared, what they will do while they are together, etc.

There would be no academic expectations or assessments.

There would be the expectation that the adults in the room have SEL Core Competencies in their pocket as a framework within which to work. The SEL Core Competencies according to the CASEL Guide for Effective SEL Programs for Elementary School are as follows:

1. Self-management
2. Self-awareness
3. Responsible Decision Making
4. Relationship Skills
5. Social Awareness

Another key feature of this model of teaching and learning would be a reimagined role for teachers. In addition to be have SEL Core Competencies, teachers would be enthusiastic learners themselves and experts in listening to their students' wonderful ideas.

There is no single way to attend to these competencies and CASEL emphasizes that implementation is essential. And there’s the rub. The “je ne sais quoi” that will make this type of learning successful depends on the right leader who is prepared, comfortable, and confident.

Trust v. Accountability

Accountability was born from distrust.

In an education culture based on trust there is no need for such things as IEPs, 504s, ALPs, and standardized tests. All the energy teachers and administrators otherwise spent on accountability could be redirected to nurture self-care, relationships with children, families, and community, so the spirit of learning is available to children.

Supporting a Leader Who is Prepared, Comfortable, and Confident

There are two facets of implementation that should define how to support the teacher/leader to be prepared, comfortable, and confident: 1) teacher identity, and 2) SEL curriculum/materials offered to her/him.

When I said, “Je ne sais quoi,” it was misleading. In fact, I have a good idea where to turn to help a teacher work like this. There are ways professional development can simultaneously support the teacher identity and offer her/him tools for facilitating self-directed learning. In no particular order here are a few places I turn as a homeschooling parent:

• Alliance for Self-Directed Education: Imagine what would happen if, instead of sending children to conventional schools where their natural ways of learning are curtailed, we provided them with the resources that would allow their curiosity, playfulness, and other natural ways of learning to flourish. That is Self-Directed Education (SDE): education that derives from the self-chosen activities and life experiences of the learner. The Alliance for Self-Directed Education (ASDE) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to normalizing and legitimizing Self-Directed Education, to make it available to everyone who seeks it. We invite you to join.
• CASEL: Building and mobilizing one of the most important movements in decades. Social Emotional Learning. Our mission is to help make evidence-based SEL an integral part of education from preschool through high school. CASEL and our broad network of collaborators are working together to turn momentum for SEL into a national movement.
• Education Next Generation Conferences: PARENTS AND EDUCATORS BLAZING A NEW TRAIL. 25 EXPERTS DISCUSS: Social Emotional Learning, Homeschooling, Mindfulness, Progressive Education [Note: Free to attend online!]
• Courage to Teach: Our mission is to create a more just, compassionate and healthy world by nurturing personal and professional integrity and the courage to act on it. Distrust, stress, isolation, and burnout are robbing society of what’s possible when people bring integrity and humanity to the places where they live and work. ... Courage & Renewal programs cultivate the heart and soul of leadership, encouraging people to “lead from within.”
• Association for Mindfulness in Education: Mindfulness is a foundation for education; mindfulness provides the optimal conditions for learning and teaching and also supports all pedagogical approaches.
• Other things to consider would be nonviolent communication and emergent curriculum.

Trust would make IEPs, 504s, and ALPs obsolete.

And, in fact, trusting my child, doing professional development offered by the listed organizations, plus daily Kundalini yoga meditation is the basis of my homeschool life.

Making SEL the priority is the single biggest win for our homeschool life. With a secure, caring foundation from which to step toward the world, I am amazed again and again by my children's ability to learn nearly any topic deeply and with profound authenticity. By doing so, I hope that my children will grow up to be kind and well-adjusted people.

Trust then is my key for academic learning. By trusting that my children will learn I am not a slave to checklists. Instead, I spend my time and energy meeting their needs, caring for myself so I can meet their needs, and seeking provocations that invite them to dive deeper into their interests.

It Matters Not At All, and Entirely

Homeschool offers us the opportunity to teach and learn without IEPs, 504s, ALPs, and standardized tests. My children get to be their unique selves without the stigma associated with it. They get to pursue their interests, be curious, make decisions, and be productive members of the community early and often.

So it doesn't matter exactly how my children are different because I don't have to figure out a way to make them be the same as everyone else.

And yet, it matters entirely.

By recognizing the different ways my children are drawn to the world, I am able to be the facilitator they need.

This blog was written as part of the GHF blog hop. For more, surf over to "Uniquely Gifted: The Different Areas of Giftedness."

When she writes, Julie draws from both her formal education (MSE Electrical Engineering, MA Curriculum and Instruction - Science) and her informal education in Early Childhood Education and Special Needs Parenting that arose when she became a mother and shortly thereafter a blogger. Julie’s blog, Preschool Engineering, is where she advocates for children (and adults) as playful, independent Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math learners. Her experience and interests are a natural fit for her work Free-Learning in Colorado. Julie lives in Superior, CO with her husband of 16 years and their two children. In her spare time she reads, hikes, and practices kundalini yoga.

When she writes, Julie draws from both her formal education (MSE Electrical Engineering, MA Curriculum and Instruction - Science) and her informal education in Early Childhood Education and Special Needs Parenting that arose when she became a mother and shortly thereafter a blogger. Julie’s blog, Preschool Engineering, is where she advocates for children (and adults) as playful, independent Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math learners. Her experience and interests are a natural fit for her work Free-Learning in Colorado. Julie lives in Superior, CO with her husband of 16 years and their two children. In her spare time she reads, hikes, and practices kundalini yoga.