Educators understand and apply knowledge of student growth and development.
A Testament to the Importance of Standard Three Through My Own Experiences:
In my second teaching practicum, I had the privilege of working in a Kindergarten class with an amazing Coaching Teacher who valued student interests and passions. During my time teaching in this kinder classroom, there was one student that I took a special interest in during writing lessons. He was a skilled writer who could write full sentences but was often distracted and disinterested in the writing tasks. This intrigued me as a teacher because even though he was clearly a talented writer, he had no interest in the subject so he often would put in minimal effort. This student was also a very active student and had trouble focusing during lessons and activities because his mind was working a mile a minute.
The more I watched this student, the more I got to see how he lit up during science lessons and loved learning about facts about the natural world such as plants and animals. During these science lessons this student was able to sit through the lessons and was fully engaged asking questions and connecting the learning to his prior knowledge. This student would also retain facts learned in our science lessons and then would find me during recess only to tell me about the things we learned in class with excitement written on his face.
When I saw his passion for science, I had idea that I decided to take a chance on. I planned a lesson where the students would learn about the Venus Fly Trap plant. I found some videos that would engage the class, and I brought in the plant that I had at home to show them the plant in person. As we watched the video and I showed the students my Venus Fly Trap, I could see the excitement on this student’s face and how much he was enjoying the lesson. During the writing portion of the lesson, I asked the students to write down one fact that they learned, and this student surprised me by surpassing any previous work I had seen him do.
Before coming into this practicum experience, I knew about the importance of teaching the individual and I valued in deeply in my own practice but this experience with this student showed me just how crucial it is. When we connect with our students and focus on their interests and passions it can make huge impacts on their learning. I know that this writing activity with the Venus Fly Trap is something that this student will remember for a long time.
Every student has individual learning needs and it our job as educators to recognize and accommodate our students. In this teaching experience, I learned that when we get to know our students and invest in making the learning meaningful for them, we can also do the best we can to meet their individual and diverse needs. This could be using student interests, like in my experience, but it could also mean recognizing the importance of cultural identity, family background or individual learning needs. All of these aspects are important to student learning and our incorporation of them can play a huge role in student success within our classrooms.
Interested in this lesson? Check out my literacy toolkit for details.