A key ingredient in the learning environment is the "mood" of the classroom --> I think the mood in the classroom plays a huge roll. Even in the college classroom, if we are tense and nervous we are less likely to respond and contribute in the classroom. If we feel comfortable and their is a calming mood we are more likely to be active and contribute in class discussions. It is up to the teacher to set the mood in the classroom and I believe our attitude towards ourselves and our attitude towards the students and curriculum plays a big part in that.
We need to also continually assess our students readiness, interest, learning profile, and affect. By doing this we have to modify our lessons continually in order to ensure maximum learning. Students are always changing and we need to take that into consideration. We can't be teachers that make a curriculum and stick to it like glue... we need to reflect on what we taught, what worked, what failed, what the students got from it, how we can change it to make it better next time. There are too many teachers out there that are so set in their ways and think that their way of teaching is the only way of teaching. I feel really bad for the students in their class because they don't take the time to change their methods of teaching to benefit those in the classroom.
"Connecting with each child is at the heart of differentiated teaching." We need to get to know our students because if we don't know them we can't teach them. We need to "tame them" and also learn from them. Connections are so important and I think that it will not only make my job as a teacher more rewarding but it will also help my students learn and feel like they belong.
2 comments:
You've written a thorough summary of the two chapters... enough to indicate your having read them and connected to them. Can you tell me a little more about how a teacher goes about addressing all of the needs (usually a huge variety, like you described), in one lesson, or one unit? How can a teacher possible keep up the pace of reaching the different types of learners, and always helping all children to learn and grow. How can this possibly be?
That is something i was wondering about as i was reading. I think that if you know your students well enough and know the material you are teaching well enough you can tweak things and make it work for most students. I don't think its possible to get every single students learning style met and that every student is learning because a lot has to do with how the student is recieiving it. Everyone has their off days where they have other things on their mind and they just can't take anything in that day. All that we can do is try to reach as many students as we can by trying our hardest. Now I am just rambiling... haha... So in conclusion even if we differentiate perfectly I still don't believe every student in our classroom will "get it", but that doesn't mean that we shouldn't try and keep trying.
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