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.