What do Students Seek?

There are many things that students seek for when it comes to DIFFERENTIATION. The most BASIC need of every child is that they feel safe and a feel a sense of belonging. By helping a child feel safe they will be more willing to learn. WHAT ELSE DO STUDENTS NEED? Well there are 5 simple things that you as a teacher can think about to help each student to be successful in your classroom...

AFFIRMATION. What is affirmation you ask? Well, you want all the students to be able to say to themselves "I am safe here as I am" and "People believe in me here" 

CONTRIBUTION. Have you ever felt like you don't bring anything new or unique? I think everyone feels this way at some point in their life, but we do not want our students to feel this way at school. We want them to say to themselves "I make a difference in this place" and "I help others and the class as a whole succeed"

POWER. Gaining a sense of power is something that has to do with growing up. For example, if you look at a toddler they gain that sense of power and dominance over their own little world when they make it all the way across the kitchen floor. We want our students to have this same sense of empowerment. We want them to say that "What I am learning now will be useful to me" and "I can make my own choices that will contribute to my success."

PURPOSE. Why do we want our students to feel like they have a purpose in our classroom? Well the answer is simple, just like us adults students do not want to do busy work. They see it as a waste of their time. We want our students to say "What we do here reflects me and my world" and "What we do here helps me to make meaning of the subject, my world, and the wider world"

CHALLENGE. There is something about taking a risk to attain a goal that is appealing to humans. We love to reach and discover things that are just outside our grasp. As teachers, we need to make sure to make challenges to students that are personal so they WANT to reach as far as they possibly can. We want our students to say to themselves "The work here complements my abilities" and "I often accomplish things here I didn't believe were possible."

Effective differentiation begins with awareness and understanding of basic student needs. Teaching is about building lives. To be an effective teacher using differentiation you have to know your students a make EVERY SINGLE ONE of them feel comfortable. I know that when I am a teacher I am going to do my best to have all my students feel this way about my classroom.