Melillo, Memo #7

Slowly, I’m making my way through my articles and finding information beneficial to my research.  Interestingly enough, the article, “Engaging Middle-Grade Students to Learn in a Caring Community,” by Range, Carnes-Holt,and Bruce seems to offers an instructional model, the Caring Community Teaching Model, which I feel represents my classroom instruction in some ways.  It explains the importance of considering both the emotional and academic needs of middle school students. Students need to feel as though you care about them to learn.  Educators have to create a caring community and utilize strategies that involve students so that they engage in their learning.  Learning can’t just be about content; it has to be about the student as well.  “Therefore, middle-level educators should be dedicated to creating environments in which students feel connected as demonstrated by meaningful participation in classroom activities, enjoyable relationships, and healthy social-emotional functioning” (National Middle School Association 2010; Waters, Cross, and Runnions 2009).  Although my classroom may not mirror the Caring Community Teaching Model completely, the learning community I’ve created is similar and is dedicated to the academic and emotional needs of my students.

    As I continued reading the articles I located on instructional practices for diverse learners, I again found myself agreeing with the content explained in the article, “What Curricular Designs and Strategies Accommodate Diverse Learners?” by Burke and Hagan.  Truthfully, not every student learns the same way.  Often times educators have to know the diversity of their students and teach the big ideas, use conspicuous strategies, prime background knowledge, scaffold, use judicious review, and strategically integrate prior learning to facilitate  more complex learning.  It is imperative that the diverse learners' needs be understood so that the learning can occur.  Ultimately, educators want diverse learners to be able to learn on their own; however, they have to teach strategies so that students can.

    There is definitely a balance needed between teaching strategies to acquire knowledge, understanding the needs of students, and building a relationship with students.  Each learner in the classroom has academic and emotional needs, and the educator has to do the best he or she can to meet them.  Interestingly, many of these articles touch on strategies or students’ needs, but many of them seem to focus on one or the other rather than both.  My classroom is currently a place where the strategies and the students’ needs have to be combined for a successful lesson.