Thursday, April 24, 2014

Instructional "Shift"

Our district has been working to align and reframe our ELA and math curriculum in light of the adoption of the Common Core State Standards.  While we hear or read many buzz words or phrases in the process, I think the one I see most used is “instructional shift.”

What exactly does that mean?  If you Google “instructional shift,” you will receive a very long list of articles and documents that are more than willing to explain it to you, at least from that specific author’s viewpoint.  I decided to think just about the word “shift,” which is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary, in part,  as follows:

“…Move or cause to move from one place to another, especially over a small distance…Change in emphasis, direction, or focus…”

Certainly, implementation of the CCSS with fidelity will require some degree of instructional shifting, dependent upon the starting point for each teacher, school, and district.  But when I just look at those two dictionary definitions, it strikes me that great teachers make instructional shifts all the time, and have always done so. For example, within the delivery of a given lesson, a teacher may change the direction or focus of the lesson because of an observation made while monitoring for desired effects.  Heck, just changing a student’s seat may sometimes be the best instructional shift a teacher can make in an hour.

The difference with the CCSS is that the instructional shifts are very intentional, planned, and optimally, being collaboratively learned by teachers prior to instruction.  Some teachers are embracing the shifts, some need to learn more about the shifts, and some are fearful of the shifts.  Regardless, each teacher needs to remember that “shift” happens all the time in classrooms, sometimes directed by the teacher, and sometimes directed by the students.  Sometimes “shift” happens and no one even recognizes it.

Whether you are a fan of the CCSS, withholding judgment for now, or hate it, the reality is that its adoption has given us an opportunity to reflect upon our curriculum with a different lens.  The time we are taking to be intentional is hard work, but will result in better learning for all of our kids.  We begin each curriculum meeting with a review of our working agreements, and number one is that “we are here to do what’s best for kids.”  And we need to keep that focus during implementation.  Teachers must be supported in their learning, so that they can continue to do what’s best for kids.  As long as that focus doesn’t change, we can handle all the other “shift.”


-          J. Walton