It is a busy December morning at the John J. Audubon School, a K–8 public school in Chicago, Illinois. Students have not yet arrived, but their teachers are already busy. They are moving quickly between their classrooms and the staff lounge, most with their hands full of teaching materials. One is hauling posters used to teach fractions, another is carrying a huge box of picture books, and still another is dragging a life-size Albert Einstein puppet. A special education teacher is running through the hallway wearing a sign around her neck that reads "Come to the fair!" All of this commotion can only mean one thing—the kickoff of the school's annual celebration of differentiation.
During a summer school meeting in 2006, our leadership team outlined a plan to renew our commitment to meeting the needs of diverse learners. We began by planning workshops on inclusive schooling, adapting curriculum, and creating multilevel lessons. We also brought in instructional coaches and a consultant to work with individual teachers and develop new methods for literacy instruction. However, it occurred to us that we weren't giving our teachers formal opportunities to share ideas and teach one another about their successes with differentiated instruction. We decided to design a teacher-to-teacher professional development experience.
A Fair Is Born
In planning our professional development experience, we spoke often of the needs of teachers as learners. Above all, we wanted to create something that was relevant to their current needs. Too often, teachers returned from workshops feeling the material was not applicable to their own situations. We also wanted to create an experience that was social and collaborative because we believed that teacher learners, like student learners, retain more when experiences are enjoyable (Krashen, 1982; Willis, 2007). Keeping these elements in mind, we began to sketch out the details of a three-day differentiation fair, a schoolwide showcase of teacher work where educators could both teach and be taught.
Our initial idea was to put a call out to teachers to bring us evidence of differentiation from their classrooms. We knew that all of our colleagues were using teaching strategies, creating materials, and writing lesson plans that addressed the needs of their diverse learners, so we believed that differentiation examples would pour in by the dozens. But we were wrong.
Except for the special education teachers (the initial facilitators of the project), few staff members came forward with examples. This low response did not seem to be a sign of a lack of enthusiasm. Our colleagues seemed eager to go to the fair, but they believed they had little, if anything, to share. We knew this wasn't true, so we began to visit classrooms to "shop" for exhibits. We ripped graphic organizers off walls, transplanted learning centers, stole dioramas off bookcases, and videotaped lessons featuring multilevel instruction. We found several examples of differentiation from every teacher we visited and ended up with hundreds of tools and ideas to display.
This experience of raiding classrooms taught us an important lesson. Even after studying differentiated instruction for more than a year, our teachers were still not confident that they were doing it! When we complimented one teacher on the projects she assigned for a social studies unit and pointed out all of the different ways learners were able to make contributions, address personal goals, and show what they knew, she brightened and said, "Oh! That's differentiation?"
Once we got over this hurdle, we began planning the logistics of the fair. We settled on using the staff lounge, a place where teachers congregated naturally, and we decided that throwing a luncheon would be one way not only to lure teachers into the lounge but also to keep them for more than a five-minute coffee stop. The great displays, opportunities to socialize, a raffle of prizes culled from classroom closets, and roast beef on focaccia tempted staff members to spend time exploring the exhibits and asking and answering questions.
- Math ideas (manipulatives, technology).
- Language arts ideas (adapted texts, word games).
- Social studies ideas (study guides, graphic organizers).
- Science ideas (lab kits, models).
- Environmental supports (personal checklists, visual directions).
- Assessments (rubrics, anecdotal assessments).
- Motivational ideas ("magic" wizard hat, puppets).
Held for three days, the first fair was a huge success, and we learned a lot from the experience. Perhaps the most meaningful lesson was the importance of learning from our peers. We had been looking outside the school for ideas that we could have found in the classroom next door.
New and Improved
In the 2007–08 school year, we decided to repeat the experience on a grander scale. Parents had heard about the fair and wanted to get involved. They formed a committee and helped us to plan an entire week called "Unique Week" that focused on diversity, learning differences, differentiation, and inclusive schooling. We enjoyed a lunch catered by parents, wore buttons that declared "Great Minds Think Differently," hung photographs of people in our school community on every wall, and had students record something unique about themselves on paper snowflakes that we plastered around the building. We ended the week with a whole-faculty celebration at a local watering hole.
In this second year, the fair was held in a bigger space to accommodate the larger number of contributions. To add an additional element of interest, we asked teachers to think of one lesson and share how they differentiated it in at least three ways. The exhibits at the fair were more sophisticated and diverse than in the previous year. Teachers still contributed a range of products, but this time the displays of actual lessons with authentic student work helped staff members better understand the supports and adaptations in context. The captions that accompanied the work were also more detailed, focusing not only on the purpose of the differentiation but also on how students with particular learning profiles might benefit.
Further, our administration incorporated the fair into a schoolwide professional development day. Faculty members rotated through three different rooms, with one room housing the fair. Educators were given 45 minutes to visit the fair, where they could share ideas and view examples of how colleagues were using differentiation. At the end of the 45 minutes, they were asked to record ideas they got at the fair for helping one student needing a challenge or enrichment and another needing additional support.
Teachers and administrators alike deemed the fair a success. Thus, we continued the tradition with our third annual celebration, held in December 2008. In planning the third fair, we considered how we could support rookie teachers through the fair, how we could use the fair to enhance our ability to reach all students, and how we could make the fair as productive as possible. We wanted to keep the event fresh, interesting, and meaningful to teacher learners.
Planning Your Own Fair
Although the fair can be a one-day event, it is our experience that a few days or even a week of activities is just as easy to plan and gives teachers more opportunities to share and learn. If you can't use the lounge where teachers naturally congregate, choose an empty classroom or meeting room and create a reason for teachers to visit. To motivate teachers to come and stay a while, you might plan a potluck lunch or silent auction to draw visitors to the exhibits. We gave away books on differentiation, learning games, and teaching supplies.
We also found that it helps to provide suggestions to teachers about what they might submit. The easiest way to show differentiation is probably to display teaching materials, but lessons, strategies, and assessment methods can also be illustrated with videos, audio recordings, photographs, and teacher-written descriptions.
Finally, to make the fair more meaningful, tie it to another staff development activity. For instance, you could require that teachers submit a formal reflection or even use a half or full inservice day to enable participants to present miniworkshops. To keep motivation strong, consider changing themes of the fair from year to year. One year, teachers might submit ideas primarily related to enrichment, another year could target cultural relevance, and another year could focus on students with moderate and significant disabilities.
Learning On the Inside
Although we know that an event like the differentiation fair is not sufficient for teaching teachers everything they need to know about planning for diverse learners, the event is an important component of our professional development plan. In addition, the fair has become a ritual and celebration that has helped us build a sense of community and encourage collaboration. It provides a rare opportunity to come together for the purpose of teaching, learning, and reflecting. The most important outcome of the fair, however, has probably been recognizing that we don't always need to send teachers to a conference or bring in consultants to meet professional development goals; we can often find the information, experience, and knowledge we need from a colleague in our very own building. In a time of budget cuts and financial crises, this is an important realization.
This does not mean that we should devalue reading, studying, taking courses, bringing in experts, and attending workshops; learning "on the outside" will always be valuable. The fair reminds us, however, that these are not the onlyways to learn, and it helps us stay committed to learning from within.
