Spotlight

Image by Old Shoe Woman via FlickrThanks to Martha Thornburgh for inviting me to her meme (below). I have never participated in this type of challenge before and it was quite thought provoking. It made me really think about what I believe and communicate it here.

1. Share three things that you believe about all students.

• I believe that all students have a passion for learning something. You just need to find out what it is and weave it into your curriculum. Everyone has a passion and they want to become more knowledgeable about a subject, skill, or hobby. If a student is struggling with telling time or math, but loves to cook, make a connection between the two, so they can master their weakness. Give them an opportunity to share their passion and you will boost their interest in learning and other students passion as well.
• All students can achieve. Teach students with tools they understand. If you have a class who has an interest in listening to music, then use that to help them learn and memorize. If a class has an interest in crafts, use that to your advantage. Use all styles of learning and you will reach everyone. Find a technology tool that everyone can master easily and determine if that is the right tool. We are so guided by national and state standards, that many teachers lose focus on improving individual student learning. It is time consuming to plan and individual lesson for each of your 100+ students, but we must try. Meet each student where they are and adapt by challenging or adjusting the requirements for each student. Challenge them all at their own level, high or low or average.
• Kids love to play. They can make a game out of a piece of torn notebook paper! Make life fun and laugh with them! You will also last longer in teaching.
  

1. Share three things that you believe about all students.
2. Reflect on your thoughts in your blog. (If you do not have a blog, you can share your ideas in a comment from this post.)
3. Be sure to link to this post and to where you were first tagged.
4. Tag your response with AllStudentsMeme
4. Invite others to join the conversation by tagging them to be a part of the meme.

So now that I have participated, let's keep this going and I tag:

Meg Basilio, PA
Stacy Kasse, NJ
Scott Floyd, TX
for the international perspective
Aletta Crofton, South Africa
Jackie Blackman, England