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Most of us love the concept of equality.
But I'll come right out and say it: treating all your students fairly and equally can be a big mistake. It creates unnecessary problems. It undercuts your authority. And it sells short your ability to act with wisdom and nuance in the best interest of your students.
There, I've said it. Now let me explain what I mean before I'm called a contrarian educator, un-American, or worse . . .
Of course you want to treat your students
fairly. But not always equally.
This has nothing to do with playing favorites, letting kids slide, or an Orwellian notion that "some students are more equal than others."
It has to do with the hard reality that your classroom is filled with kids of wildly varying abilities, desires and motivation.
Let me give you an example, and then I'll tell you where I'm really going with all this . . .
In a previous report, I wrote about a time when I let one of my problematic students take home a Mustang car magazine so that he could use it to complete a writing assignment. All the other students were assigned a standard writing assignment (one that was much less interesting and flexible).
Of course you might ask: "Hey, isn't that unfair to the rest of the students?"
Good question. Here is my response:
If you have a kid in your class who is on the verge of failing and doing everything in his power to disrupt your classroom, you can't get around the fact that you need to do things a bit differently. That's just the way it is. You can't treat everyone exactly the same.
You must be creative if you
want your students to succeed.
And that also means being firm about what you have to do. Your other students will respect that.
I once had an eighth-grade kid say to me, "That's not fair." And I told him, "Jeffrey, I'll tell you what — when you get your teaching credential, we'll discuss doing it your way. For now, you need to focus on your job and let me take care of Michael. That's the deal."
Here's something else I could have told Jeffrey (or a parent, my principal or anyone else):
"Yes, Michael was allowed to do the assignment a bit differently. But guess what? It worked."
Here's What Happened and Why It Worked . . .
The first day Michael used his magazine and the rest of the kids did the regular assignment. But the second day, when I gave the kids a worksheet based on the Battle of Gettysburg, I handed Michael the top half of the Gettysburg worksheet.
I told him that if he finished the top half, without rushing through it, that he could take home the Mustang magazine again.
On Day 3, he finished the entire regular class assignment for the reward of reading the magazine. So within three days I had him completely on-task, doing all the class work.
Unfair? Not to Michael and his future it wasn't.
Okay, so here's where I'm REALLY
going with all this . . .
Once you accept that it's smarter to customize your efforts rather than blindly follow a one-size-fits-all approach, then it's easy to get creative to prevent your very worst students from making your life miserable.
Here's a really effective bottom-line, real-world application of what I mean.
Problem-Based Learning Projects
So what exactly is problem-based learning, and why is it something we need to know about?
Problem-based learning, or PBL, means taking student learning beyond the normal “textbook” way of doing things.
Problem Based Learning can be:
 A way to get required work completed without using the typical route of textbooks, lectures and exams.
Designed as alternatives to regular work.
Used as supplements for extra credit.
A way to prove the student has mastered the information and earned a passing grade, even if he has failed the written exams.
Written into an IEP or into parent-teacher meeting notes as a way to assess your child.
Negotiated with the teacher as something worth a specified number of points.
A project a child can work on during class either in the classroom, in the library or in the computer lab to keep him from either “shutting down” or disrupting others.
A way to save a child who is stumbling and in danger of being held back a grade.
Some examples of problem-based learning are:
Group Projects, Field Trips and Web-based activities.
Here’s an example in each category:
1. Group Project: Build an active volcano.
2. Field Trip: Feed animals at the petting zoo; observe their behavior when it’s midday or raining or in the evening.
3. Web-based: Look up and compare the migration patterns of the blue whale and the hump-backed whale.
Why PBLs Are Important for Some Kids
For those children who have trouble paying attention, sitting in class while the teacher is reading from a book doesn’t work very well. They aren’t “connected,” and it’s not long before they tune out and cause trouble. They really don’t have access to the material the way other kids do.
In this case, the traditional classroom setting does not “speak their language.” But hands-on activities that involve movement often do. Special projects create a new learning dynamic for these (or any other) kids. They’re activity-based, and they’ll often come alive while meeting new people or being introduced to new machines and processes.
Here are some other reasons for
doing these projects:
Kids remember what they do more than what they hear. (This goes double for those kids in your classroom with ADHD. It’s been said that people remember about 80 percent of what they do, but only 20 percent of what they hear. Imagine how true that is for a fidgety kid who is required to sit in a classroom for six hours!)
Also remember that:
The type of kid who drives teachers batty is often wild for alternative activities.
They make learning fun!
PBLs can involve the entire body, which stimulates different parts of the brain.
Children are more likely to tell someone what they just learned.
They can be a great way to meet curriculum requirements. PBLs can become part of a systematic way to make sure that both the state standards and your students’ individual needs are met
We now have an abundance of technology today that makes sure our kids “get it.”
The creators of these technologies often disguise actual learning as fun games. We’ve all heard that if you want your child to learn something, teach him a song about it, tell a joke about it or tell a story around it. Well, I will add a fourth element: Make it feel like a game.
Here’s the PBL concept in a nutshell: your student
simply uses an alternative method to demonstrate
his understanding of the required concepts.
Let me give you a quick example. I think this scenario will illustrate how PBLs can fit into the educational picture, and even save the day.
A Scenario That Will Bring
It Home for You . . .
Let’s say that Joey is a kid who doesn’t adapt well to traditional teaching because he has a hard time sitting still. And let’s say that despite an IEP meeting, he’s still struggling. Now his parent comes to a new meeting with the teacher to discuss Joey’s progress.
Joey’s mom is concerned that Joey will fail the class. The teacher says, “Mrs. Thomas, I like your kid, but he’s only earned 68 percent on his work. He’s earned 71 percent on his homework, he’s gotten 52 percent on the tests, and his in-class work is at 74 percent. I understand that he doesn’t do well sitting for extended periods of time and that he doesn’t like to read in class, but I still have to give him a D-plus. I’d love to give him a better grade, but I can’t do that based on his 68 percent.”
What this teacher is basically saying is: “I’d like to give him a “C” grade, and he is meeting his IEP goals and doing his best, but he didn’t meet the standard, so what can I do?”
Well, here’s what the teacher can do: He or she can solve this dilemma with a problem-based learning project. This is a win-win solution that (a) helps the student learn the material and (b) helps the teacher give the credit he deserves for his effort.
The PBL will demonstrate Joey’s mastery of the material — whether it’s vocabulary, reading comprehension or the tests — by performing a relevant activity. He may still freeze up during tests and maybe he doesn’t get very far in his reading assignments, but if you come up with the right PBL he can earn a good grade and experience success.
Here’s what the teacher can now say: “Look, I can’t just give Joey a good grade — but Joey can earn that grade by demonstrating his understanding of the subject. I have a problem-based learning project in mind that will do just that.”
How to Implement PBLs
Here are my general guidelines for creating specific PBL projects:
I call this my “Keeping It Real” checklist. While selecting a project to use, ask yourself these three questions:
 Does the activity represent a real-world problem?
Is the topic real important to my student?
Will the project be something really cool he will show his friends?
PBLs can be assigned to individual students, but I like to let the entire class do them whenever possible. You can also structure them as group projects in which students work in groups of four or five. This elevates everyone’s learning, and it also creates a “buzz” among students, which makes learning more fun and increases effort.
Another advantage to offering PBLs to your whole class is that they also provide evidence that you’re trying to reach all the kids in your class.
Here's a common question I get
from teachers about PBLs . . .
(. . . and notice how my answer could be applied to many other situations in your class!)
Here's the question:
In the case of individually assigned PBLs, how could you mitigate the stigma that a student might feel because he’s doing something different from the other students?
And here's my answer:
I recommend explaining Joey’s project to the class in a truthful way that portrays the situation in the best possible light.
For example: it’s true that if Joey’s project goes well, the teacher will implement it in the future in some form to the entire class. So if a student asks what Joey is doing, the best thing for the teacher to say is something like, “Joey is working on an independent project. If it goes okay, we will then find a way to use that project in the future for the entire class. He’s doing the hard work right now for the rest of us.”
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For more information about using PBLs in your classroom: 7 Days to
a Perfect Classroom - the DVD
For a more detailed explanation of how to use PBLs in your classroom, watch my 80-minute DVD, 7 Days to a Perfect Classroom.
The video reveals new information not contained in this report series. You can get the DVD free if you order my book, How To Turn Any Disruptive Child Into Your Best Student.
To read more details about this video, click below:
Click here  DVD Special Offer
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Copyright © 2008 by Tom Daly / Smarty Pants Publications
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