"Imagine a classroom that speaks to the needs and interests of all students in your classroom...A classroom that engages meaning-makers. It is a classroom at the interface of student identity and teacher identity...It is the kind of classroom we want to create for our students." (Pahl, 114)
I think this is the kind of quote that captures why many of us wanted to become teachers in the first place: we want to make a difference. We want to create an environment for children that encourages fun and learning and interacting. This reminds me of a book that I read for our management class called "Punished by Rewards" by Alfie Kohn. His book was all about creating a hands on learning environment that takes into account the interests and individuality of the students. It advocated helping students construct meaning and purpose and come to love learning because of it. I agreed with many of the points he made in his book because it emphasized doing the right things for intrinsic motivation and less for stickers and gold stars.
Is it possible to have a classroom that takes into account the individuality of every student?
I really like this quote too. Sometimes I forget in all the homework why I am doing this, but you are so right. I think it is possible as a teacher to account for each individual student but i don't think at any one time you can capture every students individuality. There are so many peopel that personalities are going to be very different, but that makes a fun classroom.
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