Student Individuality

Every student is unique and adds a specific element to the class they are in. As a teacher, I too agree it is extremely important to truly know your students both in and outside the classroom. When students are within the classroom setting, it is imperative to know how to tailor lesson plans to each student. Whether students are ELL, ESL, or Special Ed., they all should be treated as individuals first, because this is the only successful way in my opinion to ensure they learn the best they can. In order to accomplish this, activities should be implemented to learn about each student, allowing them to express themselves and reveal who they are. With this information, I would be able to learn about my student's interests. 

Regardless of how information is acquired about each of my students, I truly believe with any information I am given, it will help both the student and myself develop a trusting and safe communication system within the classroom. My primary goal is to make sure my students feel welcome and safe within the classroom, because it may be the only place where these students may feel safe. One thing I may not learn about my students is what goes on when they are home and those factors could and can potentially have a great effect on how the students performs within the class.

So many factors come into play both in and outside of the classroom, however I feel it is my job to make sure I know as much as possible about my students so I can provide the best learning environment possible to accommodate the diversity that will be in my classroom. As mentioned before I would make sure to implement activities to explore ways to learn about my students as well as promote the students to learn about one another, to help the classroom function as a whole. These activities may include games, show and tell, incorporating different book genres, having/hosting a traditions day (ethnic diversity), and possibly writes poems and stories. Diversity is an important thing for students to be submerged in and a great way to encourage acceptance.