I enjoy the practical nature of this chapter; it offers
numerous real life methods to assist in implementing the teachings of this
book. The personal nature of getting to know your students is significant in so
many ways when it comes to teaching, how you go about collecting that data is
not always as straight forward. The sheer amount of students teachers have acts
as a barrier to achieving learner specific knowledge, in addition many learners
might not consciously identify with their preferred intelligence, while some
(those who register on the interpersonal scale) might not care to share their
thoughts. In addition I thought the suggestion of going through individual
students files and analyzing previous teachers reports (kindergarten in
particular) was an original and resourceful idea. We as teachers are not alone,
our colleagues act as sources of knowledge in so many ways and their experience
with specific learners can be some of their most helpful knowledge to convey.
The
suggestion that I think I am the most apt to follow from this chapter is the
one in regards to journal keeping. I understand the logistical task of keeping
notes on 80+ students and applaud them for their realistic and honest outlook
on even the ideas that they pose. I however find this approach so important
that it outweighs any of the negatives that might come with it. Tracking the
progress of a student is crucial to understanding the learner on so many
fronts. We can track them through their work but this leaves out so many of the
important visual cues that we encounter as well as the emotional ones. If a
student starts to spiral downwards due to issues unrelated to the class I might
not pick up on the initial signals, however if I track the student with journal
entries I might notice a pattern after the second or third week. I hope that I will be able to come to some
arrangement that allows time in my day to incorporate such an activity.
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