Justine Zodarecky, a senior at Greece Odyssey School, entitled her Advanced Placement English essay "She Brought the Heart Out From Inside Me." The "she" in her title refers to Cheryl Dobbertin, BOCES 2 coordinator for staff development and instruction. In her essay, Justine writes about how her outlook on education and life has changed dramatically since taking Dobbertin's English class in Regional Summer School. And Dobbertin believes the method of instruction she used, entitled differentiated instruction, can and has changed the lives of countless other students. "On the first day (Ms. Dobbertin) told us that our class was probably going to be a lot different than what we had done in school before," Justine wrote. "Sure we would be reading books and writing essays, but there would be more choice and more work and thinking on our parts. She intended to find out as much as she could about what we had learned and what we needed to learn more about." Differentiated instruction is a teaching philosophy in which the teacher gathers information about a student's readiness for learning, interests and profile, then plans lessons around the student's needs and interests. "It's basically finding out what will make it work for students," said Dobbertin. She learned about this unique method of teaching at a University of Virginia conference two years ago. "It's a philosophy that really clicked with me - the missing link with my teaching," said Dobbertin. Her goal was to train other educators on how to bring differentiated instruction into their classrooms, "But to be an effective trainer, I needed to use it," she said. "Thanks to (BOCES 2 Assistant Superintendents) Pam (Kissel) and JoAnn (Antonacci), I was given the opportunity to teach Regional Summer School and had a fabulous summer of teaching." As a high school teacher, Dobbertin was unique in her use of differentiated instruction. "It's more difficult for high school teachers to use because they have so many more students that they need to know individually," she explained. But word of Dobbertin's success with the teaching method spread and she was asked by Carol Ann Tomlinson, University of Virginia professor and nationally recognized expert on differentiated instruction, to promote it at the high school level. Dobbertin began writing differentiated curriculum last fall and then sent in a proposal on its use from a teacher's perspective to the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, a national leadership organization for educators. The organization was so impressed with Dobbertin's work that they invited her to speak at their yearly conference last March in San Francisco. Teachers, administrators and curriculum leaders from across the country heard her presentation. Dobbertin will speak again at a conference on differentiated instruction in Chicago at the end of June. Her session will focus on the successful model of the differentiated 7-12 English classroom that engages students as thoughtful readers, writers, listeners and speakers, while enabling the teacher to provide "just right" critical-skills lessons. Dobbertin is now considered a differentiated instruction expert herself. Not only does she receive many calls from educators seeking information, but has written a unit that may be included in Tomlinson's new book on differentiated instruction. She also will be keeping very busy throughout the summer working with teachers in the BOCES 2 component districts and districts across the state. "When BOCES 2 first got in to differentiated instruction, there was a cadre of trainers who helped see how it played out in the classroom," she said. "It was very demanding of their time and without their commitment, we never would have gotten it off the ground here." Students like Joel Cotton, a Churchville-Chili senior, is glad that it did get off the ground. "It's a totally different way of learning," he said. "We looked at things piece-by-piece and Ms. Dobbertin took the time to make sure we were doing things right. Now, I'm a good writer. I didn't think so before." Joel passed the English Regents with flying colors and continues to do well in his last year of English at his home school. Justine went from failing English to taking and succeeding in AP English. "After many weeks I am doing great and loving class," she wrote. "I believe that this all had something to do with the summer and Mrs. Dobbertin. She made me realize what I could do and helped me to work to my full potential ... I would say a thank you isn't enough to show her how much she changed my life and made me realize the person I really am and the abilities I have." Note: Cheryl Dobbertin also does freelance writing for Westside News Inc. |
