Individual Education

Individual Education: Knowing and Caring for Each Student Allison Bedwell L22204595 EDUC 360 003 Professor Smith

Individual Education Abstract

Though a teacher has a classroom full of students, recognition must be given to the fact that each student is an individual and should be taught accordingly. Knowing and caring about students their hearts, their desires, their interests must be a teachers top priority. Having a personal relationship with each individual child encourages mutual respect and trust, which will both build community within the classroom and further encourage the learning process. Teachers should support students inside and outside of the classroom, spending time with them at recess, lunch, and coming to their after school activities. The classroom may be the base of learning, but learning must never be limited to the classroom. Learning is continual, and the teacher must be a model of learning, demonstrating growth by growing alongside the students and having high standards for the students as well as even higher standards for ones own self.

Individual Education Introduction

While one student rides to school wearing a crisply pressed uniform with a lunchbox full of fresh food, another walks to school carrying nothing but the hopes of making it through the day. Disregarding financial matters, both students require an education. At some schools, students leave class on a daily basis to work with a special needs teacher; at other schools, students are told they are unintelligent, and the teacher stops calling on them when they raise their hands. Despite the teachers different approaches, both students need encouragement. One school may claim a specific religion, and another may forfeit the right to pray. Yet, students at both schools need to develop their own morals and conceive their own definition of faith. With approximately twenty to thirty students in a classroom, students needs cover an extensive range. Students will differ in economic backgrounds, learning abilities, religious beliefs, and even more simply, personalities. All the same, the teacher is responsible for individualizing each students education. Worldview and Philosophy of Life Albert Einstein said, Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile (Kammerzelt, 2011). Many people may disagree with this statement, claiming that people should take care of themselves and not live their lives to please others. However, my purpose in life, and therefore in education, is to love others. If I choose to live for any other purpose, then surely I have no purpose at all. Loving others is synonymous with living for others without expecting anything in return. This sort of selflessness requires deep humility, unconditional patience, and endless determination. These qualities, accompanied with generosity and strength, create good character. Character develops when I ask what I can give in every situation, position, or environment rather than asking how a situation, position, or environment might benefit me.

Individual Education

Undoubtedly, I benefit far more from giving than I ever do taking. Offering time, money, and most importantly, love, to people in need is of great worth. I am grateful for all I have; yet I am not affixed to it. I would much rather extend what I have to someone who is less fortunate than myself. Further, giving demonstrates strength as does kindness. I believe strength is found in being kind not only to people who deserve kindness but also to people who do not. While the latter may offer narrow-minded opinions and unpleasant actions, they are likely the ones that need kindness the most. In being kind to the unkind, a greater perspective is displayed. A lesson is taught even though a plan was never written, and the teaching extends far past the classroom to the rest of the world. Philosophy of Schools and Learning From the immensity of the world down to each individual, learning encompasses everything. To say that learning is found only in the curriculum would be to neglect the learning gained through relationships, through curiosity, through misunderstandings, through both positive and negative experiences, and through asking questions and searching for answers. Students should feel at ease to share their opinions in the classroom along with their successes and mistakes. Jacob Bronowski stated, It is important that students bring a certain ragamuffin, barefoot irreverence to their studies; they are not here to worship what is known, but to question it (Brownowski, 1974). Encouraging students to take responsibility for their own learning is far more important than encouraging students to accept every word that I say as factual. Aristotle said, It is the mark of an educated mind to entertain a thought without accepting it (Chandler, 2012). Students should learn about everything but only practice what they believe to be true.

Individual Education

Teachers must instill in their students a passion for learning; if this passion is created in a student, then that student will never stop learning and continually pursue learning throughout all of life. A positive attitude in the classroom is essential. Encouragement must be demonstrated and offered to all students consistently. Teachers must fully believe in each of their students. Essentially, teaching carries the purpose of educating students so that they may live a life full of love for others, that they may actively serve others, and that they may be helpful in reaching the needs of their own community and the communities of others worldwide. Moula, Mohseni, Starrin, Scherp, and Puddephatt (2010) noted Knowledge is essential for interacting with the world, and learning to use this knowledge to make proper decisions is probably the single most important lesson in life. If for no other reason, a student should be educated for the purpose of making favorable decisions and benefiting society. Instructional Practice Students needs and interests should guide all classroom instruction. Learning happens when students are engaged. Therefore, teachers must recognize ways to positively capture their students attention. Students should create as much as possible in the classroom, because the action of creating provides students with the opportunity to relate and take ownership of learning. Squires (2004) points out the significance of student-focused instruction: It is important to emphasize that the functions of teaching are not always the functions of teachers and may be shared with or developed to the learner; the framework is in no way teacher-centered. Students may generate their own inputs and do their own explaining. (p. 345) Teachers best instruct learning by modeling learning; though, they need not dictate learning. Control of learning needs to be in the students grasp. The teacher may guide learning as students

Individual Education

make what they learn their own; students should find freedom in their own knowledge and understanding. Being aware of students control in learning and believing that someone should not speak to simply fill void but rather because she has something to say, I am convinced that teachers ought to shorten the instructional time allotted in a lesson in order to enable a greater amount of time for student inquisition. Students should originate artwork, write in journals, and openly share their opinions with their classmates. Students learning should not be bound to the teacher. Rather, it should branch from student to student. One students ideas should teach another student, and another students viewpoints should lend perspective to the entire class. Learning is communal in that each student contributes in educating each other. Every student has a voice within the classroom, so that they will develop the confidence to use their voices outside of the classroom too. Teacher-Learner Relationship / Classroom Management The teacher must always have the best interest of her students in mind. Students must be able to trust their teacher and feel safe within the classroom. Mutual respect is vital in the classroom. While the teacher has authority in the classroom, this authority must never be misused. Thomas Jefferson said, Power is not alluring to pure minds (Darash, 2012). Students should never be disciplined for disciplines sake. Instead, teachers must constantly evaluate why they are doing what they are doing and why they are enforcing the rules that they are enforcing. If a student will not benefit from discipline, then that student should not be disciplined. The student must realize that discipline is executed out of love, not anger or frustration. Albert Einstein said, If people are good only because they fear punishment, and hope for reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed (Chandler, 2012). This statement shows that while a trip

Individual Education

to the principals office may cause a child to behave temporarily, it does not render an answer for why the child was willingly disobedient in the first place. Rather than making children behave out of anxiety of what will happen to them if they dont, the teacher should actively show students the benefits of good behavior. Diversity As a teacher, I will have the privilege of meeting and developing relationships with numerous people. Parents, students, colleagues, and employers will all provide me with endless opportunities to learn. I neither expect nor desire for people to be like me in thoughts and actions. Every individual offers unique perspectives and distinct ways of doing things that should be respected. Anyone, regardless of ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religion, or disabilities, will feel welcome in my classroom. Mother Theresa recognized, If you judge people, you have no time to love them (Chandler, 2012). Rather than condemning others, a teacher should reflect on her own actions and work to self-improve. A teacher should never make a child feel inferior or be unnecessarily critical; even though the best may not always be given, a teacher must always think the best of her students and expect the best from her students. Over the past couple of years, I have worked with all sorts of people: people with eating disorders, people who struggle with self-harm, people who get high on a regular basis, and alcoholics. I lived with a girl who has schizophrenia; I heard her scream in terror to the voices in her head. I talked to a fifteen-year-old girl about her participation in threesomes. I turned off the lights for an underage girl with a hangover, and I hugged a fourteen-year-old girl while she told me that she was raped and is now pregnant. I felt the fear of a girl that had been molested repeatedly; I stayed awake with her while she struggled to find sleep because her legs would not stop shaking, would not stop reminding her of her past. I took knives away from a girl who was

Individual Education

suicidal, and I shared a home with several lesbians. These people have taught me more than all the textbooks I have read and all the lectures I have listened to. Lifes greatest lessons are learned through people; if all people were the same, the number of lessons missed would undoubtedly be nothing short of a tragedy. Diversity is key to learning. Conclusion Knowing and caring for each individual student is a teachers most important job. More than lesson plans and state standards, children need to learn love. Teachers must recognize the impact they have on students lives and the choice they have to either make that impact positive or negative. Realizing that the impact a teacher has on a student does not only affect that student but also that students family, friends, and future family, the teacher has a magnificent responsibility. By educating one individual student, a teacher can educate hundreds; by loving one individual student, a teacher can love the whole world.

Individual Education References Brownowski, J. (1974). The ascent of man. Boston, MA: Little Brown & Co. Chandler, O. (2012). Quote by Albert Einstein. Retrieved from http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/show/55624 Chandler, O. (2012). Quote by Aristotle. Retrieved from http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/show/429163 Chandler, O. (2012). Quote by Mother Teresa. Retrieved from http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/show/2887 Darash, J. (2012). Thomas Jefferson quotes. Retrieved from http://newyorkcommitteemen.org/CommonLaw/documents/JeffersonQuotes.pdf Kammerzelt, B. (2011). Social justice quotes. Retrieved from http://thejustlife.org/home/resources/quote-list/

Moula, A., Mohseni, S., Starrin, B., Scherp, H., & Puddephatt, A. J. (2010). The intelligent method of learning. Reclaiming Children & Youth, 19, 26-31. Squires, G. (2004). A framework for teaching. British Journal of Educational Studies, 52, 342-358.