Students' Needs: the Impetus for Differentiation

A similar quote (this must be important): "I can't," says the student, "at least not until you connect with me. Oh, I'll go through the motions, of course. But give myself to this adult thing called school? Not unless you connect with me."

What does it mean to connect, person-to-person? The "general" definition of connect is "to join, link, or fasten together; to unite or bind; to establish communication between; to have as an accompanying or associated feature; to cause to be associated...mentally or emotionally." (Dictionary.com) 

To unite is to form a whole...a unit. Our goal as future teachers is to create a unit of our classroom--our students. It is also to help each student feel whole. --to feel that they're "enough" just as they are...so they have the courage to take risks. To make mistakes. Effective learners look at mistakes as steps leading them to the right answer. Wasn't it Edison who said, after trying to invent the lightbulb on nearly 1000 different times, "I don't see them as mistakes. I see them as my having learned 1000 different ways to not make a lightbulb."

Let's create the courage to risk in our students. A psychologist once said, "Do parents advise their children to take risks? Perhaps they should. Instead of saying, "Be careful!" or "Be safe!" when their child walks out the door, why not say, "Take a wise risk!" A child who is afraid to risk may emerge from school "safe," but he also may not have grown. 

Learning is about growing, and it's okay to learn about life's opposites. --that is...to learn happiness because of the sadnesses we experience. --to learn strength after facing our weaknesses and working to overcome them. --to gain strength of character through challenging experiences. Of course, we do not invite harm. However, students (I believe) should feel safe enough to venture a wrong answer (for example). --or to defend another's answer. --or just to defend another (period). --or to defend their own ideas. 

These character issues can be encouraged and developed in students. Students learn best when they feel safe. Creating a classroom community in which her students feel safe to risk is one of the goals of the teacher.

* Thank you to Google for the images in my blog posts.