3 minute read
Individualization to Ensure Students Feel Known and Respected
The combination of collaboration and peer-conference groups provides each student with support and suggestions and offers each class member the opportunity to contribute substantially to the quality of the learning his or her classmates experience.
Individualization to Ensure Students Feel Known and Respected
In a traditional classroom, the teacher makes decisions about lessons, assignments, tests, and grades. The teacher’s personal areas of interest and experience will likely influence unit designs. Students often respond positively to the teacher’s enthusiasm. What more can we ask? Researchers and authors Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe’s (2005) model of lesson design outlined in Understanding by Design helps teachers realize that these “pet units” might be fun, but they don’t necessarily result in the enduring understanding of key concepts and skills that students need. Once you’ve asked yourself what a class needs to develop enduring understanding, you don’t have to go much farther to wonder what each student might need. And the best way to find out is to ask the student. The result can be a powerful partnership between teacher and student that makes it possible to achieve important learning goals in both efficient and enjoyable ways.
“But,” teachers may argue, “it takes a lot of time to get to know students well enough to individualize their work, and I’m already working long hours, seven days a week.” So where can you find more time? Ask yourself what you’re spending time on that you could give up because not doing it won’t have a negative impact on students. I’d be willing to bet you’ll come up with the same answer I did—and that answer will make you feel a little shaky at first . I’ll bet you spend the most time on what has the least impact on student learning: grading. When I finally worked up the courage to stop grading every single assignment, I had time to confer with students, understand their strengths and needs, and individualize tasks and projects. I also had time for more detailed written comments about work in progress. In chapter 5 (page 89), you’ll find a detailed discussion of why it’s not only OK but also really important to provide detailed feedback instead of grades.
Now that you’ve gotten some grounding in using integration, interaction, and individualization to encourage academic success in the classroom, we can move on in the next chapter to the second of six student-centered teaching practices: support personal growth.
Next Steps for Encouraging Academic Success
If you attend to three elements—integration, interaction, and individualization— you can create a classroom environment all students deserve. The following tool details some steps you can take to experiment with integration, interaction, and individualization in your classroom. For each step, note the date you tried it and reflect on how it went: What did you do? How did it go? What would you change? What’s next? There are spaces available at the end for you to plan additional steps you can take toward a student-centered approach to teaching.
Next Steps Tried
Survey students about their learning styles, personal interests, and what they hope to learn in your class. Organize a unit of study about a question that taps into students’ interests.
Try collaborative groups for one marking period. Let students know you will be monitoring the groups and the quality of their group work will determine whether they continue to work in groups. Let students know you will not be grading one type of assignment— for example, lab notes, journal entries, or mathematics facts— but you will make comments and save their work.
