Individual Needs (Understanding the learners)
All children have different needs, and they all have the potential to learn. When a student is struggling to learn or do his work, our jobs as teachers is not to blame them and accuse them of failing. Instead we need to look at what we are doing and why are we not able to help them learn. After all, it is our job to teach them, and if they are not learning then we are the ones that are failing, not them. So if we see our method is not working with them, then we have to change our method. We need to work with the child, not against him. A child needs to know that he is an important individual. children need to know that they are worthy and recognized. They are precious and irreplaceable.
When I was younger, during my high school days, I would sometimes tutor my friends and some of my classmates. I’m not sure why, but my teacher, Ms Beer, let me do that. I always thought it is because I would always finish my assignment first and have nothing to do for the rest of the work period. I really liked teaching and helping my classmates when they needed help. Sometimes I would want to finish quickly so I can go around and help everybody. They all said that I was a really good teacher. During my first year in high school I didn’t really speak any English so I was put in ESL class for a full year. Ms. Beer was my teacher. She was the best! Whenever I think of what it means to be a good teacher I think of her. She was a friend, someone we trusted, someone who helped us learn made us better students. It was my first year in Canada, I was a strange girl in a new country. She made me feel welcome and made me love coming to school. I hope to be like her and help students the way she helped me. Who knows, maybe one day I can be somebody’s Ms. Beer.
In her class there was about 25 students. Somehow, I always felt that she was only paying attention to me. Of course that is not the case, as she was paying attention to everyone else in the class. But I felt that way because she recognized my existence. She would talk to me, ask for my opinion. She would always check on how I’m doing, joke around with me. She treated me like a friend. So I thought of her as a friend, of course she was still my teacher and I had to treat her like a teacher, but she was also a little more than that.
I had another ESL class with another teacher called Ms. Mirrally, but she was completely different. The only time she would talk to me is to ask me why I haven’t done my homework yet. One day I told her how I can’t do a certain assignment because I don’t really understand it. She said “I talked with your other teachers I was telling them how lazy and bad you are, they all acted surprised and said you are the best in their class. So why do u act like this in my class? Is it because you want me to do the work for you? You pretend not to understand because you want to rely on me? You should depend on yourself. You are being lazy and that is not acceptable, I know you can do the work so go ahead and do it.” It is true, I was a terrible student in her class, and I couldn’t really figure out why. I am doing so well in Ms. Beer’s class, so why can’t I do the same here? Only now, after I have had the chance to observe students from my school placement, that I was able figured out why. It is due to the attitude of the teacher.
Ms. Mirrally failed to see the real reason for my struggling in her class. She assumed I was the one at fault, not her. The reason, in my opinion, is that my needs were not being met! I was the kind of individual that only did well when being nurtured. I needed to build a good relationship with the teacher in order for me to do well in class. Ms. Mirrally didn’t show me she cared about me, she didn’t pay any attention to me. That had a negative effect on my behavior and so I didn’t want to do anything in her class. I ended up hating her class. Ms. Beer on the other hand was very nurturing, she build a really good relationship with me, that is why I was doing so well in her class.
The attitude of the teacher has a great effect on the learning of the child. I had completely two different attitudes in the two ESL classes that I went to for that full year. I wasn’t doing it on purpose. It is not like I was trying to send a message to Ms. Mirrally that I hate her class. On the opposite I really tried my best to do well, but I couldn’t bring myself to improve.
I want to talk about my experience with one specific child from my school placement. One of the teachers described him to me as a really lazy student who never gets the work done. Indeed, he doesn't pays any attention in class, and he hasn't done any of the required homework. I felt that he was being constantly ignored. in fact, the only time he isn't being ignored is when he's getting yelled at for not doing the work.
I tried to work with him, get to know him and build a relationship with him. pay attention to his needs, how does he learn best? I tried to make lessons that were interesting and engaging for him. I learned that he likes getting attention and he likes chatting and talking with me. so I would spend time specifically just for him. I wanted him to feel like he is an important part of the class. Sure enough, after a few weeks his performance has changed drastically, not only was he doing the work in class, he was participating, being active, but most importantly he was happier. All students have different needs, our job as teachers is not only to respect the students, but also give them what they need. All this poor child needed was some attention and some warmth.