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.