Curriculum & Instruction: Addressing Student Needs

I really like how this chapter starts out. At the beginning of the chapter, there is a quote, which says: "As adults responsible for the growth of the next generation, we should know that we are not doing our jobs unless we provide youth with the opportunities to live right- that is, with chances to do their best. A just society is one in which men and women, rich and poor, the gifted and the handicapped, have an equal opportunity to use and to increase all their abilities, each according to his or her talents" (Csikszentmihalyi, Rathunde & Whalen, 1993, p. 260).

The chapter then goes on to tell a story about a student who was taking an algebra class. The algebra teacher did not make her students feel affirmed in class or feel like they were contributors to class. It was basically just a class where the students went and listened to the teacher because that was the teachers job and they needed to know algebra. They didn't feel like they had any worth, which in return made the students not want to go to class and have no motivation to do the work while in class.   This algebra teacher knew her curriculum. She instructed with intensity. She taught Algebra, but she did NOT teach this particular student.

A year later, this same student took a german class. In this particular german class, the teacher made the students feel like they could be successful, she affirmed her students with eye contact and smiles. This teacher still taught her curriculum, but she also took the time to TEACH her students as well rather than just getting through the curriculum she was required to get through. This german teacher was constantly checking their understanding and proficiency and dealing with each student as the individuals that they were.

We as teachers need to have our curriculum and instruction be focused, engaging, demanding, scaffolded, and it needs to be in the face of student diversity. 
Although we do have a curriculum and things we need to teach our students throughout the school year, we NEED to teach our students as the individuals that they are. We need to understand that they all come with different needs. We need to be the teacher who makes a child feel like they are more important than the stuff that we are trying to teach them and we need to make them feel like they can be the successful people that we know they can be.

At the end of the chapter, it says, "We are reminded that we must teach children in the way that is best for him or her. Care for the child, they tell us. But you can care only when you understand- what it is like to be a part of that child's culture, what it is like to be unable to speak the language of the classroom, what it is like to go "home" to a shelter every night, what it is like to wonder about things no one else in the classroom seems to ponder, what it is like to think steady thoughts only to have them sabotaged by print that scrambles on the page. Make links with learners' interests, talents, and dreams. You can only do that when you know what they care about, what gives them joy, what they would wish for if they dared." 

We as teachers, need to be the support system that students need in order to learn, grow, understand, and become the people that we know they can be!

Teacher Response to Student Needs: Rationale to Practice

I really enjoyed what I read in Chapter 4. This chapter starts out by saying that, By accepting every student's need for affirmation, contribution, power, purpose, and challenge, the teacher intends to provide invitation and opportunity for each student through investment, persistence, and reflection. There is now a line of logic to govern the teacher's thought and action. Both covertly and overtly, the teacher lets the learners know the following:

• You are unique and valuable as individuals, and we are important as a class
• We are here to help you find and develop abilities as individuals and as a class
• Our goal is to help each person and our class become as capable as possible
• That is an important goal, and the work we do to achieve it must be both important and challenging
• The time we have to achieve our goal is valuable
• Therefore, we have to figure out together how to work in the most effective and efficient ways we can
• We'll need to learn about one another and ourselves, so we know where we need to go and how we're doing in getting there
• We'll need to determine guidelines for working, so we can reach our goal, both individually and as a class
• We'll need to figure out working routines that enable us to succeed in reaching our goals, both individually and as a class
• We'll need to develop support systems to ensure that we continually grow, both individually and as a class
• Like all important goals, our goal will require investment and persistence.

I liked this chapter a lot because it focused on the first step in meeting the child's request for personal investment. Throughout this book so far, I've noticed a common theme in creating a class with differentiation and that is: Meeting children where they are and investing in them and their needs. 

An important part of having a differentiated classroom is paying attention to the classroom environment. "The classroom environment includes both physical and affective attributes that individually and cumulatively establish the tone or atmosphere in which teaching and learning will take place." There are many strategies we as teachers can use to build positive environments in our classrooms. Some of these strategies include:

• Studying students cultures
• Conveying status
• Commending creativity 
• Making room for all kinds of learners
• Helping students know about one another
• Celebrating successes

Another important part of having a differentiated classroom is having communication within the classroom. It is important that teachers decide beforehand how classroom environment will address and affect communication. Some strategies to foster positive communication in our classrooms include:

• Holding goal setting conferences
• Using dialogue journals
• Incorporating teacher talk groups in lesson plans.

Along with classroom communication, we should have guidelines for classroom operation. It is important that we allow our students to be a part of setting up our classroom guidelines so that they feel like they are an important part of our classroom setting and making our classrooms run effectively.

Lastly, it is important that we have classroom routines, support systems, and shared responsibilities in our classrooms. When we have all of these things in our classrooms, our classrooms will run more smoothly and our class as a whole will be much more effective. 

Teacher Responses to student needs: A Starting Point

Chapter three starts out by saying: "The good teacher communicates a deep regard for students' lives, a regard infused with unblinking attention, respect, even awe. An engaged teacher begins with the belief that each student is unique, each the one and only who will ever trod the earth, each worthy of a certain reverence. Regard extends, importantly, to an insistence that students have access to the tools with which to negotiate and transform the world. Love for students just as they are- without any drive or advance toward a future- is false love, enervating and disabling." (Ayres, Klonsky, & Lyon, 2000, pp. 2-3).


I really like the quote above because I believe that in order for students to succeed, they need to know that people believe in them. Students need to know they have a crowd cheering for them and believing that they can make a difference in the world. Students need to be loved for how they are. If students are not learning, we need to adjust our teaching styles in order to help our students to become the people we know that they can be. 

Throughout this chapter, it talks about where teachers can start in differentiation. Another quote from the chapter says, "If students say, "I need affirmation, contribution, power, purpose, and challenge, " A teachers response should be, "I will respond to those needs. Otherwise, How would I assume I could truly teach you? Otherwise, how would I assume we could build together a place in which we can all become what we are meant to be?"

According to the chapter, there are five ways in which teachers can respond to the student's needs for affirmation, contribution, power, purpose, and challenge. "They are not ancillary to teaching but are at the core of effective teaching. They are not separate from the learner's needs but are outcroppings of those needs. They are not apart from curriculum and instruction, but they breathe life into it."

1. The Response of Invitation: In order to issue the invitation, the teacher's demeanor, words, and actions need to communicate the following:

• I respect who you are as well as who you can become
• I want to know you
• You are unique and valuable
• I believe in you
• I have time for you
• I learn when I listen to you
• This place is yours too
• We need you here

"The teachers invitation not only responds directly to the student's need for affirmation and contribution, but also begins to respond to the student's need for power, purpose, and challenge."

2. The Response of Opportunity: To communicate that opportunity to students, the teacher's demeanor, words, and actions must continually say the following:

• I have important things for you to do here today
• The things I ask you to do are worthy things
• The things I ask you to do are often daunting
• The things I ask you to do open new possibilities for you
• The things I give you to do here help you become all you can be
• You have specific roles here that make us all more efficient and effective.

3. The Response of Investment: The teacher who communicates investment to learners makes it clear:

• I work hard to make this place work for you
• I work to make this place reflect you
• I enjoy thinking about what we do here
• I love to find new paths to success
• It is my job to help you succeed
• I am your partner in growth
• I will do what it takes to ensure your growth

4. The Response to Persistence: Young people are as likely to resist challenge as to embrace it. The teacher needs to help students understand that this is a place where persistence is a hallmark. To do that, the teacher must communicate the following:

• You're growing, but you're not finished growing
• When one route doesn't work, there are others we can find
• Let's figure out what works best
• There are no excuses here, but there is support
• There is no finish line in learning

5. The Response of Reflection: Not only do teachers benefit from reflective practice, but students derive important messages from reflective teachers as well. To the student, a reflective teacher communicates the following:

• I watch you and listen to you carefully and systematically
• I make sure to use what I learn to help you learn better
• I try to see things through your eyes
• I continually ask, "How is this partnership working?"
• I continually ask, "How can I make this better?"

It's been mentioned so many times throughout this book so far that teachers need to find what works best for each of their students. We will not find one practice that works for all students and that is okay. We need to continually be looking for ways to help all of our students reach their full potential and we can't do that unless they know we are there to help them through and we can work together.

What do students need?

In Chapter 2 of fulfilling the promise, it starts out by saying that "Many years ago, Abraham Maslow helped us understand that until a human has basic needs attended to, until that human feels safe, until that human feels a sense of belonging, energies cannot go to learning." It then goes on to say that: "If a child feels unsafe, threatened, or insecure, the brain blocks off the pathways to learning and attends to the more basic human needs instead. If a teacher connects learning to a child's emotions, she is more likely to learn than if what is being taught remains remote from her emotions." 

Our students need to know that we care about them. They need to know that our classroom is a safe place where their needs will be met. Once students are aware of this and feel that they are secure in our classrooms, learning will be much more likely. Have you ever been in a classroom where you didn't feel safe or cared for? This situation can be rough on children. Not only will they not enjoy coming to class, but they won't be motivated to learn.

According to chapter 2, there are five key needs of learners. These include:
1. Affirmation
2. Contribution
3. Power
4. Purpose
5. Challenge.

Each of these five key needs will greatly impact the learning process in one's classroom because not only do the students feel the love and affirmation that they need, they feel like they can contribute and make a difference in the classroom, they have power within the classroom and are being heard, there is purpose for each child in the classroom, and there is challenge!

Later in the chapter, it says" "Because students differ so greatly, the premise of differentiation is that while students have the same basic needs, those needs will manifest themselves in different ways, depending on the student's gender, culture, general life experiences, talents, interests, learning preferences, affective development, cognitive development, and support systems." 

"Effective differentiation begins with awareness and understanding of basic student needs."

I completely and totally agree with the last statement. We need to know our students and understand each of their individual needs before we can differentiate in a way which will help each of our students reach their fullest potential in our classrooms.