{"id":6728,"date":"2015-12-29T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-12-29T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/aurora-institute.org\/blog\/cw_post\/teaching-differently-in-competency-based-schools\/"},"modified":"2020-02-27T14:45:05","modified_gmt":"2020-02-27T19:45:05","slug":"teaching-differently-in-competency-based-schools","status":"publish","type":"cw_post","link":"https:\/\/aurora-institute.org\/cw_post\/teaching-differently-in-competency-based-schools\/","title":{"rendered":"Teaching Differently in Competency-Based Schools"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Bob
Bob Sornson<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In December, <\/em>Over-Tested and Under-Prepared: Using Competency Based Learning to Transform Our Schools<\/em><\/a> by Bob Sornson will be released by <\/em>Routledge<\/em><\/a>. Bob has shared an excerpt of the book from the chapter on Teaching Differently.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s my job to deliver the content. It\u2019s the students\u2019 job to keep up,\u201d a high school social studies teacher once explained to me. As a beginning high school special education teacher, it told me all I needed to know, that I should never place another of our handicapped learners in his class, and that many other students would suffer under his instruction. While this view is incredibly insensitive to the needs of students, it is also consistent with the structure of most curriculum driven instructional systems. Teachers are given a lot to cover, told that they should be able to use their time well, cover every chapter and content expectation, manage behavior, and somehow motivate kids to try harder so they achieve higher test scores.<\/p>\n

Imagine a school bus driver given a route to drive that is longer than could be reasonable managed in the time allowed. In this metaphor, drivers who race through the bus route and get to school on time are given kudos. And if you arrive at school with only a handful of kids, nobody complains.<\/p>\n

When covering content is the prime objective, other behaviors suffer: Taking time to build relationships, teaching and practicing classroom routines, helping kids get to know and trust each other, exploring each student\u2019s special interests, creating projects and activities which bring learning to life, developing intrinsic motivation to learn, developing values and character.<\/strong><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Many new teachers have been trained to efficiently deliver content and lessons. When they reach the classroom they confront the reality of behavior management, absenteeism, different learning skills, interests, and rates of learning, and the futility of \u201ccovering content\u201d when students are not learning. These issues, along with complex school bureaucracies, and a lack of professionalism in many school cultures, drives some of our best young educators away from teaching.<\/p>\n

For those educators who have chosen to stay, the pressure to cover and the pressure to achieve better test scores has increased year by year. Because Cover Test and Sort is such a pervasive model, many educators don\u2019t even consider the alternatives. As we transition to competency based learning, the basic training we provide to teachers will change, on-going professional development will be important, and we will bring a much needed love of learning back into the schools and into our lives as professionals.<\/p>\n

Learning to become a competency based educator is and will be a challenge. Instead of having one set of lessons to cover, the teacher will understand and respond to the diverse learning needs of her students. Instead of keeping all students on the same page at the same time, students work at their level of readiness. Instead of assuming all students learn in the same way, we recognize the many different ways in which competency might be achieved.<\/strong><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

The rubric for high-quality instruction will change. No longer will the standard include:<\/p>\n