Monday, October 19, 2009

Keep This in Mind




In Carol Ann Tomlinson book she talks about a teacher who explains to his students the levels they would be placed in. He had the students bring in the time they learned how to walk. One student learned how to walk at 9 months and another student learned how to walk at 1 years he old. He then asked the class did it matter what time they learned to walk. The class said no, it only matters that they learn how to walk. He then explained everyone doesn't learn something at the same time. It takes some students a short amount of time and some may need a longer time to grasp a concept. It doesn't matter how long it takes just that you learn it. That is something I always keep in mind when I teach. I don't make my students fill bad if they don't know the information yet and I don't hold my students back that know the information. Would you still teach the concept of crawling and pulling yourself up to stand to a child who has mastered walking. Why do we as teachers tend to do that to gifted students? If you keep this concept in mind it will help you better understand that the activities we use in class should be designed to help students master information. By giving students who have mastered information more work or harder work on the same concept you are not helping them excel or succeed.

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