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!