If you get the chance to see the Powells present on differentiation, I recommend that you focus on the structure of their presentation rather than the content. Though their message is quite revolutionary (though not unsound), it is not an attack.

Anyway, as far as solutions: I’m friends with the head Literacy Coach for my District and he gave me the best advice ever. He said this movement would happen only through grass-roots efforts in our District/schools because tehre was so much resistance on so many levels. He suggested that I should work ONLY with those who want to change. That seems to work because now, 3 years later, I do finally see that change seeping ever so slowly through our systems.

Every little indication of progress toward real understanding of 21st Century Learning and joining our kids in the digital world gives me hope enough to stay and keep trying. I’m not thrilled, but I’m slightly optimistic. I’m no longer bitter about it; I guess I’m just resigned to reality.

In the meantime, I still get most of my professional fulfillment and learning from my PLN and by presenting what (little) I’ve learned away from my home district. I feel it’s the only way to avoid committing malpractice and letting the best practices of my profession pass me by…

Consider that you are not the only person asking a teacher to change- in fact, you are one of probably ten to twenty. I almost quit teaching during my first year under the pressure of trying to please all of the people all of the time and failing to find my own voice in the classroom.

Some teachers may simply shut down because it’s too difficult to try to integrate so much into their practice. Others may simply be focusing on one thing at a time and cannot integrate X, Y, and Z all at once. Some may simply not like your ideas (which is, by the way, a decision they have the right to make).

I can also say that I detect an us-versus-them attitude in your own post as well as in the quotes you cite. Each of you talks about why teachers are so defensive, and clearly you do not include yourselves in that label- you are separate and fancy yourself as better in at least one way, if not more.

I believe if you took the time to go into a teacher’s classroom and watch him/her, observe what they do best and how they manipulate their content, and THEN met with that person and suggested specific tools or activities that might enhance what they are already doing, that might be effective. Acknowledge that there are reasons for the things they are doing that you may not know. Acknowledge that teaching is a craft they are trying to perfect, and give them specific tools to do so. Keep it small, keep it simple. Allow teachers time to process one suggestion before making 6 more.

No one goes into teaching for the money or the short hours, and so the decision is almost always deeply personal. Try relating to teachers AS PEOPLE instead of as barriers to change, and see where that gets you.

(For the record, this is coming from a teacher who has been asked to be a little LESS out there and innovative by her admin)