Community Learning Contracts

Tomlinson describes community learning contracts as a way for students, in groups based on readiness, to learn terms, concepts, and skills in their own time. They also help students to plan out their timing. Tomlinson offers a few different types of contracts in her book Differentiation In Practice. One is a very basic contract that is meant for students who are at an introductory level and who need to become more familiar with the concept's terminology and skills. Another version she includes is a contract that is geared toward students who have a good handle of the concept and are ready for more of a challenge. The two contracts seem to be on the two extremes, so Tomlinson suggests that for your students who aren't quite ready for the second contract, is to ease them into it and introduce parts of it at a time. These contracts include different meaningful activities and a contract agreement where the student agrees to choose which activities they will complete.

I love the idea of using contracts in the classroom. It holds the students accountable and also gives them the choice of what their going to work on. These contracts clearly state what is expected of the students and what the teacher is looking for in the assignments. I think that it would be helpful to have a rubric for some of the more complicated assignments so that the students know exactly what is expected from them and pushes them to produce exceptional work. This is also a perfect way of differentiating for readiness. Students can have different contracts for the same unit/concept without attention being called to it. That is my biggest concern about grouping students by readiness. This is such a fantastic way to be discreet about it, but get the results you desire. It is so important for the students to be able to choose their own assignments. This gives them a chance to be involved in their learning and gives them a say in how they show what they have learned. It offers them a chance to try new things or go with what they know works best for them. Also, if you find that your students end up choosing the same types of assignments, you could split up the activities into sections and require that they choose one of each type. There are so many ways to make contracts unique to your class and work for your students.