Response to SIOP

While the contents of the SIOP piece might have been geared towards ELL students, it is easy to see how any of the learning and teaching methods discussed therin would benefit all students, expecially if students appreciate any level of variety in their educational pursuits.  I do wonder though,how a techer might find the time to develop, implement and assess such levels of, notonly variety, but especially personalized and unique variety. Don't get me wrong, some of these are great ideas.  The problem, for me, is that so much of what is coming my way right now is made up of good ideas and revolutionary practices.  How do I distinguish among all of it to come up with the ones that I need to implement?

For instance, "Leveled Study Guides [in which] Teacher composes study guides to accompany students’ textbook. My thought…all this sounds good, but when will teachers have the time for this?  Iimagine that I will be so busy trying to get my students to meet the requirements of the CCSS, will I have time to create study guides to the content?  I will not teach something to students that I do not think that they can understand, so I will be producing suplemental materials to assist them, but the level of individualism described here is truly amazing.

I do like the idea of "Concepts must be directly related to the students’ background experiences,

when possible, whether personal, cultural, or academic. Teachers must make

explicit and direct links between past learning and new concepts. Emphasize key

vocabulary, and present new vocabulary only in context."  Each student comes to me with different backgrounds and experiences that make them unique and special.  Do I believe that the experiences and knowledge that I will bring to the classroom wil be the best way to portray information?  I am not conceited enough that I do not value what the students bring to the room.  This will keep the experience of being in my room just asd beneficial for me, as it is for them.

One last thought: "Vocabulary Self-Selection Students self-select vocabulary words that they think are essential to understanding the concept. This empowers students by allowing them to choose

the most appropriate vocabulary words and key concepts. "  This is another one of those things that look really gooood on paper.  Who will have the time to grade thirty different vocabulary lists?  As I finished the excerpt, it occured to me that this could be molded into an activity where the entire class sets the vocabulary test.  This would not only fascilitate ownership, but it would also keep the teacher from slipping in to work overload, which would affect the student's experience.