Children all start at different levels and learn at different paces, all in a preferred way. This means as a teacher that it is important to meet each child at the level of learning that they are at and be patient with them as they advance. Some students will like to learn hands on and some will like to listen to you speak. Some will work better in groups and others will work better individually. Therefore, it is important to switch up the way that you execute lessons to meet the needs of all students that way as well.
This past year I taught religion to 10 3rd graders every Wednesday for an hour for the duration of the school year. This was very challenging when each child had a different understanding of God and were at different points in their journey of faith. One student in particular was struggling with ADHD and had autism. It was very difficult trying to meet the needs of all the children and disperse myself in a way that they all got the same opportunity to learn more about their religion. Yet, I realized that every student, including their parents, had different goals of where they wanted to be at the end of the year. As I was executing my lesson, most students could understand the depth of what I was talking about. I told myself that those who didn’t quite understand the lesson being executed, were going to learn at least one thing before they leave at the end of the day. That seemed to work very well because I was able to make a goal for myself and teach each child at least one thing that was new to them before they left whether it related to what we were talking about that day or not. As the weeks progressed, they were all able to understand more of what they were there to learn about.
Each student enters the classroom at a different level. It is important to meet each student where they are when they enter the classroom. This means that as a teacher, you need to extend learning opportunities and be flexible. There are opportunities for deeper learning for each student. To find where those opportunities lie, you can use certain assessments/tests like reading tests for example. There are many ways to find out where a child is in certain areas of learning. Once you find out where they are, you need to meet them at that place and help them grow in their education one step at a time.
