Standard 2

Standard 2: Understanding all children in their many dimensions

Educators should know their students as individuals and as learners, and be able to relate to them in a variety of ways. They should be familiar with the cultures, histories, and values of the communities and families they serve, and know the attributes of the individual children and families with whom they work. Educators should be aware of the range of special needs their children may have, and seek out information concerning the strengths of specific children as well as resources to address their developmental and learning needs. They should use their knowledge of variations in development, second language acquisition, and disabilities to support children’s physical, emotional, social, cognitive, linguistic, intellectual, and creative development. Educators should observe and listen to children as they work, learn, and play in a variety of settings to gain insights into what their students know, how they think, what they value, who they are, where they come from, and what motivates them. Their knowledge of children and families, language and culture, and community development should motivate educators to view children’s actions and responses through multiple lenses. The more they learn about their students, the better they can tailor their teaching to engage children in active learning and meet their specific needs.

As an educator, teachers need to understand that all children are different. Children come from all different backgrounds, have different personalities, and learn differently. In order for students to be successful inside the classroom, teachers must not only teach one way. Teachers need to understand all of their students and try to teach in a way that is appropriate for everyone.  It is also important for teachers to know of any learning disabilities of students inside their classroom. Students with learning disabilities may require extra tools to help them learn such as word banks or help reading. It is essential for teachers get to know their students throughout the year. 

Sonia Nieto, an educator at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, believe that each child no matter where they come from deserves to be educated. Nieto discusses in detail how a persons culture can not be identified as a certain group. While all Mexican-Americans for example might share some things in common, no two Mexican-Americans are the same. “In terms of schooling, the problem with thinking of culture as static is that curriculum and pedagogy are designed as if culture indeed were unchanging” (Nieto, 2005, p.131). Culture is always changing and thus teachers need to understand the background of all students in order to teach them adequately.  

In Mary Cowhey’s book Black ants and Buddhist (2006), Cowhey discusses multicultural education. Cowhey is an educator in the diverse setting of  Northampton Massachusetts where every year her students come from all different backgrounds including racial, and economically. In her classroom Cowhey makes sure to address all students and their different needs. “Multicultural education is antiracist education. Multicultural education is basic education. Multicultural education is important for all students. Multicultural education is pervasive. Multicultural education is education for social justice. Multicultural education is a process. Multicultural education is critical pedagogy” (Cowhey, 2006, p. 19). Cowhey knows that multicultural education doesn’t just have one right answer and it’s not always easy. However, it is important to have multicultural education inside the classroom.  

Last semester I took a class entitled “Elementary Teaching and Learning”. Throughout this class we learned different skills that would help us as teachers during our practicum and later in our own classrooms. One of the projects we worked on was creating a student sketch. In our student sketch we needed to pick a student who didn’t have a learning disability. I picked a student in my class who rarely got in trouble. She did well in every subject and always had a friend to talk to. I watched her more closely for a week and took notes on little things she did. Through this I was able to learn more about her such as she always looked sleepy in the morning and was very slow moving during the first couples hours of school. Without looking at her more closely, I would have never noticed. It is important for teacher to do some sort of student sketch for all of their students. Just taking down little notes throughout the day of each student can really educate teachers on all of their students. In Appendix 2A is the essay I wrote about the student I observed for my student sketch. 

In my full time practicum during our Native American unit, the students learned how some tribes named people after things they are know for. As an art and writing project, we had each student make a name card saying what they want to be known for and why they want to be known for that. Each of the students wrote down different things they wanted to be known for, from playing video games, to loving animals, to someone who creates peace. This project in our  Native American study, really helped us teachers learn about the lives of the students in our class outside of the classrom. We learned about their passions and what they do in their spare time. After learning this, we were able to add this new information when teaching students. By teachers knowing students interest, together we were able to make a change such as hanging posters around the school for endangered animals.  In Appendix 2B are samples of students Native American names 

Teachers only have their students for one year but in order to teach successfully, they need to understand the students life in the years prior. By understanding students, the relationship between and teacher and the students is much stronger. This allows students to feel more comfortable in the classroom which in turn allows for a better learning environment. 

References 

Nieto, S. (2005) Why we teach? New York: Teachers College Press.

Cowhey, M. (2006). Black ants and buddhists: Thinking critically and teaching differently in the primary grades. Portland, ME: Stenhouse Publishers.