The End of Normal: Honoring Diverse Learners in Our Learning Spaces

The End of Normal: Honoring Diverse Learners in Our Learning Spaces
Philippe Ernewein, MA
Director of Education
Denver Academy

Some of the most significant differences that exist within our students are invisible to the naked eye. Furthermore, the complex neurological profiles present in our classes are often misunderstood or overlooked by the misguided lens of Ònormal.Ó This session will highlight these profiles as well as present classroom techniques to honor cognitive diversity using a strength-based, empowerment model. 

Innovation starts with thinking differently than the norm. Too long and too often, as the result of our own learning experiences and antiquated teacher training systems, teachers are told (sometimes even legislated) to focus on the average when we should be teaching and designing to the edges.

For over 20 years, I have actively been disrupting this concept of the one-size-fits-all, average-focused perspective of learners. At Denver Academy, weÕve adopted the term diverse learner to describe the amazing and brilliant students that we partner with in this environment of teaching and learning.  This disruption includes the obvious tools of technology and curriculum design, but also simpler, almost ageless, tools of relationship, environmental, pragmatic and spatial structures.  

While I am still working with students, my focus is training and supporting teachers. The 3 critical ingredients that I have found are critical include:

? Understanding student learning profiles; not just interests and learning styles, but really pinpointing skills areas like memory, attention, problem-solving, encoding & cognition.
? Operating from asset-based thinking and a relationship foundation; in the busy landscape of Common Core content, it is essential that we focus on human relationships and interactivity.
? Too often the conversations, priorities and training in the teaching world are focused on the ÒwhatÓ we should learn and not the ÒhowÓ we should learn it; shifting our attention and innovating ways to teach the how should be a higher priority than the what we are learning.

The innovation can be led from within current structures of school; the changes are focused around what to teach and how to teach it. On a very basic level we need to teach students, not content. While content, the ideas and concepts that hold up building and governments, is important, we must teach students first.  Teachers are often perpetuating how they were taught (and also what they were taught) because the teacher training and orientation programs did not include the critical work of unlearning. 

Dan LortieÕs 1975 (yes, 1975) research, presented in Schoolteacher: a sociological study, is more important than ever to consider.  The catchphrase he presented, Òapprenticeship of observation,Ó has often been cited and frequently heralded as important, but rarely taken to really inform teacher training (and address it in an ongoing manner). 

Lortie writes, ÒThe average student has spent 13,000 hours in direct contact with classroom teachers by the time s/he graduates from high schoolÓ (page 61, pronoun update mine). This accidental, even unconscious apprenticeship, is even more important to address for teachers who want to hold a truly whole child, inclusive mindset; many have never seen what this can look like because they have never seen it.

The topics of dyslexia and autism are increasingly appearing in mainstream media and conversation. The rates of identification have also increased: dyslexia is identified in 1 in 5 US children, while autism has had a 30% increase during the last 2 years, and is currently measured by the Center For Disease Control as 1 in 68. This supports the premise put forth by Steve Silberman in his recent book, Neurotribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity. There is an obvious increased sophistication in how we are understanding, naming and categorizing learning.  This sea change has direct implications for every educator, administrator and school system.

This sea change is best navigated by a balance of old and new pedagogy, a combination of ancient and modern strategies and a solid growth mindset. From the dialogues of Socrates to the educational APP called Socrative, this workshop will highlight the pragmatic model of management, processing & literacy. Each category helps shape the design of inclusive learning environments and promotes maximum learning potential for each student.

The goals of this workshop includes the following: 
1. Audience members will learn specific classroom management and instructional strategies to create a successful learning environment for students with labels that included: AspergerÕs syndrome, ADHD, nonverbal learning disorders, and other pervasive developmental disorders.
2. Audience members will design learning spaces that take into account the 4 major structures: pragmatics, relationship, environmental & spatial.
3. Audience members will begin to compose their own story of learning with a focus on acknowledging the elements that are obstacles to innovation and creating a plan to address those obstacles.

More information can be found at www.rememberit.org
-including a teacher training video, published articles and blog