Teaching to Learn, Learning to Teach

tion, in both middle and high school classes, some students with a record of poor academic
performance could not read either set of material. Teachers working with these students
recommended that documents be completelyrewritten. As a result of this input, the final cur-
riculum guide offers teachers the option of using differentiated edited, adapted, and rewrit-
ten text with major language revisions, either with an entire class on any grade level or with
selected students.
While field-testing the curriculum, we also learned that the way material was presented to
students was fundamental for capturing their interest and promoting learning. When teach-
ers engaged students in activities, used references that had meaning to a particular group of
students, reviewed vocabulary and provided a context for language, provided readings that
were accessible, and encouraged freewheeling discussions, every group of students re-
sponded enthusiastically to the curriculum. Inner-city and suburban students, immigrants
and native born, and students from different ethnic backgrounds were all fascinated by
events before, during, and after the Great Irish Famine.
Some of our most successful lessons about the Irish were taught in low-performing inner-
city middle schools, with students who were largely African American, Caribbean, and La-
tino. The keys to these lessons were our ability to create a context for literacy and learning,
as well as to provide students with differentiated text. Students sang traditional songs such
as “Paddy on the Railway” and “No Irish Need Apply,” examined political cartoons and news-
paper illustrations downloaded from the Internet, and compared the experience of the Irish
with their own experiences with discrimination and inequality. Our experience in these
classes is consistent with Maxine Greene’s idea that learning is a search for “situated under-
standing” that places ideas and events in their social, historical, and cultural contexts.
I sometimes compare learning to read with weightlifting. If your goal is to bench press 200
pounds, you start with a lower weight and build up your skill and muscle over time. If you
were given a bar with 200 pounds on the first day and told to lift, you would probably just
give up. Using differentiated texts offers teachers a strategy to maintain student interest
while helping them gradually reach a higher standard.

JOIN THE CONVERSATION—DEOXYRIBOSE NUCLEIC ACID

Our work on the Great Irish Famine curriculum guide points up the crucial importance of

accessible text and appropriate context when teachers present complex material to stu-

dents who are struggling to improve their literacy skills. These are not only concerns for

social studies and English teachers. Below you will find three versions of the same passage

from an article published inNaturemagazine in 1953 explaining the molecular structure

of DNA. The first version is slightly edited from the original. The second version has been

adapted and the third version is completely rewritten.

Questions to Consider:

1. Read the first version and write a paragraph explaining what it means.


2. How did you feel as you read this version of the article? Why?


3. After reading all three versions, explain which version you think should be used in a
   high school biology class? Why?
   4.In your view, how can differentiated text be used to promote student understanding of
   complex material while literacy skills are still developing?

188 CHAPTER 7