Teaching the Student...Not just the lesson

In the book "Fulfilling the Promise of the Differentiated Classroom" the author Carol Ann Tomlinson states, "...we teach responsively when we understand the need to teach the human beings before us as well as to the teach the content with which we are charged...[It] is important to begin with the conviction that we are no longer teaching if what we teach is more important that who we teach or how we teach."

I normally put three stars by passages that I find profound and realized that I marked this passage with four stars. Instead of underlining it, I highlighted it in bold. This lead me to ponder deeply about the meaning of this message.

My first field experience was an experience that I will never forget. After carefully preparing the Social Studies unit and presenting the first lesson to the students who seemed eager to learn, the cooperating teacher gave me a piece of advice when it was over that I will never forget. Her feedback began by carefully reassuring me, and validating the fact that she made every single mistake that I had made when she was student teaching for the first time, and then she said, "...learn to teach the student and not just the lesson."

This sent a powerful message to me. I have not looked at teaching the same since. It led me to look back in my life and remember the successful teaching moments that I had experienced in the past. It helped me reflect on the memories of teachers that I remember as a student who had a great impact on my life and try to pinpoint what it was that I loved so much about them. I realize now that it all boiled down to this profound message. Teachers who are in tune with their students enough to be teaching them and not just the lesson are the teachers who are reaching the students.

It is the difference between a typical classroom and a classroom that is synergistic. A synergistic classroom is one that is empowering the minds of both the students and the teacher. It is efficient and effective because there is a common level of respect that is reciprocated in a positive environment. Excitement for learning is abundant and it is manifested in the higher level thinking and sense of satisfaction by every person in the classroom. These are the memorable moments that we return to in our minds when we want to return to the feelings of success in our life. It is this success that makes it all feel worth it.