So basically what we said in the previous two articles in this series is, right after SSR in a very subtle yet disastrous process that effects the success of the entire class for the rest of the period, that the kids break into the haves and have nots. That’s what happens.
And the thing is, the teacher steps right into this emotional blinding and splitting-into-two process as well. No one can blame them. They are working with a new method, and naturally start looking around for those who will help her teach the class, her “go-to” students. No one can blame a teacher for doing that.
But what about the other kids? Do we really want it to be business as usual with them hiding? If we do, it’s really not a class. People think it is, but it’s not. It’s not a cohesive community. This is going to be true even if we have gone to great pains to , to study it as a whole, but it is a fractured group that could never be properly studied enough to come up with anything meaningful for us to do. We must do it ourselves by preventing the fracturing into emotional levels of participation before it begins.