Knowing My Students
As the students enter the classroom in the morning, my very first objective of the day is to greet every student. These are no ordinary, empty greetings. I need to know how each student is feeling, grasp the energy level in the room, and build individual relationships with the students. One student might tell me he did not get much sleep the night before. This helps me understand the student's behavior and achievement during the day. Another student might tell me that she went to the science museum and saw a planetarium show. I could reference this later during our unit on space. Greeting each student at the start of the day shows the students that I care, and simultaneously helps me create a richer learning environment.
Knowing my students is the key to differentiation, yet it goes well beyond greeting students in the morning. Reaching an awareness of individual students involves refraining from any initial judgment, and simply being attentive to specific actions and behaviors. Being attentive helps identify the student's learning style, the support each student needs, and the passions and interests that motivate each student to learn. Through this process, each student gets what he or she needs.
Beyond knowing individual students, I have discovered it is also essential to establish an awareness of the whole class. A class that is tapping their pencils, rocking back in their chairs, and drawing pictures on their folders during a lesson could very likely be a class that needs to take a break and sing a song. A class that is not sufficiently productive working on an independent assignment might be better off working in partners. It is important to let the students take the lesson where it needs to go, so long as the objectives are being met.
The more I know about my students, the more connections I can make from their experiences to the lessons, and the more I can tailor the lessons to meet a wide range of skills, abilities, personalities, and circumstances.