Quote: “It is important to look at the continuities between home and school, rather than the discontinuities” (page 61, Pahl).
Comment: I found it interesting that this chapter talked about students using the tools they have learned at school to feed their interests that occupies their attention at home, such a Faith’s interest in birds (vignette page 60). Faith’s interest in birds which originated in the home was extended into his work and actions at school (drawing pictures, and pretending to be a bird). Students may create an integration of learning in a variety of ways, such as reading books about the interest topic, drawing pictures, creating collages, etc. I think it is important to use the interests that students develop in the home to create pleasurable school learning. If students were able to work on assignments regarding a topic of choice or interest, I feel that the outcome would be better quality than an assigned topic. As teachers, I feel it is important to “know” our students so we can integrate their interests into the curriculum/activities so learning is more pleasurable for them.
Question: How can I create lessons that focus on individual students interests? How frequently should I do this and in which subject areas?
That's such a good question, and one that I actually have myself. It's really hard to individualize instruction with such diversity in the classroom. But I do feel that it is important to do projects and papers that allow students to connect their personal and home lives with school. I think it's simpler to do individualized projects with language arts and science than it is to do for a subject like math, because science is all about individual inquiry, and you can have students design their own research projects. Language arts is all about the individual and expressing yourself, so you can allow the students to free write and free read on a regular basis to keep the students excited about that. But math is challenging because, especially in elementary school, it's pretty straightforward. There's one right answer, and it's important for students to understand how to solve the problems.
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