How Differentiation Helped my Social Life

More than ever,  I am navigating the course of my life . At this point,  I have so much agency over what I do and who I allow in my life. Whereas my schedule used to be dictated by my parents and teachers, I now play an active role in what goes down. What happens to me is a different story, but I can still control how I react to circumstances. To be honest, I've probably always had this agency, and I never realized it until now. I wonder if everyone else knows that they can determine how their day,  their relationships, and their life is going to go... Nevertheless, this power gives me the ability to change or perpetuate the edifying or destructive factors in my life as I see fit. Last week, for example, I realized that I was already stuck in the rut of waking up, going to school, and coming home. I would literally leave my apartment at 6:20 am and return 12 hours later. Unfortunately, Turkey has daylight savings. By 5 pm, Istanbul's only light comes from cafes and bus' headlights. This, coupled with the fact that I enter the school as the sun rises, had me a bit down. I truly hadn't seen the light of day in Istanbul since my first day here.

Upon realizing my tedium, I had a pity party. Poor me, I thought, as I watched all of my cohorts' Snapchats in Switzerland and Spain. They're out living it up and I'm slaving away in Turkey. Then I tried to justify my lackluster routine by saying that I came to Istanbul to teach and make connections. This was, after all, a study abroad trip. Nobody said anything about a vacation. I know I was making excuses. I knew I was settling. I knew that I could fix it if I used some unorthodox methods. I came here with adventure in mind, and it would be a shame to leave without it. Instead of accepting my monotonous fate, I changed it. I met some locals on a dating app, I hit up a few girls on Travel Noire's Instagram page, and I began working out again. My social life isn't where I want it to be, but it is better than it was last week.

I am always thinking of ways in which my students can benefit from my experiences. That is the ONLY reason I am even considering paying money that I don't have applying to attend graduate school. I believe that a lot of students have bought into the lie that they are either good or bad at school. Either they get fractions or they don't. Either they can spell or they can't. And while the self-efficacy of straight-A students is left in tact, that of the struggling student is left in shreds by this attitude. They believe that performance in school has everything to do with the level of difficulty of assignments instead of the way in which they approach the task. I can relate. For years, I just did not get math. Simple subtraction like 16-9  sent me scrambling. I just could not borrow in my head. By the grace of God, I made it into college not knowing that, when solving 16-9, I could "find the ten" in any equation. Basically, I could make the 9 a 10, the 16 a 17, and solve the much "simpler' equation of 17-10.
The disappointments and frustrations I felt during my extended gap in knowledge convinced me that I had tried to make peace with numbers. After all, you are only disappointed or frustrated when you expect something to go right, and it goes left. I didn't actually try more than one method, though. The standard algorithm was what I was given to work with, but it never worked for me. Once I was presented with a new perspective, I was not only pleased with my correct answers but I also found confidence in my ability to solve more complex equations.

How many students never find that confidence? After failed quizzes, tests, and retests, they have not mastered what we have told them they needed know by the end of an arbitrary unit. I say "arbitrary" because learning is developmental, and usually doesn't occur in 6-week increments, but I digress. Failure can hardly be determined from using one course of action.  All KIPP students have heard "If there is a problem, we look for a solution." Thanks to Google, that solution can be a cursory, 20-second search away. That solution can be found in collaboration with others. Differentiation is not only our job to implement, but our job to teach. It is our charge as teachers to present students with options to better themselves and their academic performance. I read last week that we are raising adults, not children. Children use their circumstances to justify their failure. Adults, on the other hand, use their past triumphs as encouragement to face their next giant. Let's give our students tools for triumphs. The fact of the matter is that students will have to learn the material, read the books, and write in such a way that satiates the machine state standards.  Perhaps their academic careers are not going in an upward trajectory. Of course they aren't happy about it, but discontentment does not bring change. Seeking out alternatives, however, usually does the trick. It may be more time consuming, but eventually it gets the foreign girl out of her apartment and into the streets of Istanbul.

Had a fabulous time meeting Noricia and her cousin in Kadikoy! I can't recommend Travel Noire enough.