Chapter 4: What Really Matters in Planning for Student Success?

The goal of teachers should be finding different wants to teach students so that they can all learn what is necessary for them to succeed. Differentiation is important in teaching students, because everyone learns differently. When starting a unit, some students will be proficient at the abilities needed to work through the unit, while others don’t have the necessary skills and some possess almost all the knowledge already. Because of these gaps in student standings, it is the job of the teacher to assist students in reaching the goals of the unit as well as progressing past their former knowledge. Teachers also need to create environments in which all students can respect each other and work well, together and apart. Students need to learn how to become aware of their goals and how to meet them as well as how to set new ones, and this can be done with the aide of a teacher, and then students can develop to the point where teacher assistance is limited or unnecessary in creating practical goals. This all impacts me as a teacher because I will need to plan units for my class as a whole, but assist students individually and teach groups of students differently in order to have them all finish the unit with the knowledge they were supposed to learn. This may mean different lessons or projects for different students, working with students individually or in groups, and paying attention to make sure none of my students fall behind.