ABSTRACT
Who are the students in our classrooms, and how do we adjust instruction to fit their needs? As school leaders, you have, I am sure, heard comments from your teachers similar to these: “I am way behind this year. My students are not grasping the concepts, and I’m not going to get to the end of my textbook before the end of the year” or “how am I supposed to cover all of my content when my class periods keep getting shorter?” or “I have too many students in my classroom to differentiate instruction on a regular basis” or “I really don't know what's changed, but I just cannot cover the same amount of content that I used to cover.” We have all heard these comments from teachers over the years. Teachers are genuinely trying to do the best that they can with the tools that they have. However, there are so many things that are bombarding them on a daily basis that teaching has become overwhelming for too many of them. Today's teachers cannot just teach. Today's teachers are dealing with Common Core Standards, educator effectiveness, increasing poverty, increasing diversity, and a whole host of issues that did not exist just a few years ago.
