Entry 9 ~ Individual Differences

One of the things that I love about Mrs. Grigg is that she values each student for their differences. She rejoices when David learns more of his sight words, though on a kindergarten/1st grade level because he is an ELL. She helps Keith read by providing a tool to do so. She calms Reese's nerves. She admires Sidney's creativity and Jenna's leadership. She loves hearing from Carmen, who is continually building her fluency. She roots Ian on in his wrestling matches and goes to the students' school plays. She differentiates instruction to make it meaningful and purposeful for all the students. She celebrates each child, and realizes that their learning styles are all different. She explains to her students that there are many ways to get a solution for a math problem, and has several students explain how they did a problem. She makes time to spend with each student who needs help with their writing, editing, math, etc.

I desire to have as much love as Mrs. Grigg does for her classroom. She recognizes the students' differences and celebrates them. She uses their strengths to help the other students. I can tell that she is one of those teachers that college-aged students will remember as their favorite teacher. And that is who I want to be. We all are different, and that's what is the great thing about living in a community together. We can learn and glean from each other.