almost believed those people who
didn’t believe in me.
I came across a passage in Samantha
Bennett’s That Workshop Book2 that
eloquently speaks to this issue. Bennett
writes,
These questions [about instruction] can
only be answered if teachers know their
students deeply—as people and as
learners—with layer upon layer of daily
interactions combined with careful
listening, close study, and heartfelt care.
(p. 7)
Students need to know that their
teachers believe they can succeed. For
this to happen, we must, as Bennett
writes, know our students well. More
important, students need to have faith
in their abilities as learners so they can
face their learning challenges head on.
When students experience success each
day, they will take the risks they need to
take in order to learn.
Being grouped refocused my attention on what matters most. I must
make sure that my instructional practices match my beliefs about students’
abilities. I must make available to
students the tools, strategies, and
experts that will enhance their learning.
With scaffolded instruction, choice that
drives engagement, and time to practice, our belief in our students’ abilities
can become their reality.
1Bracey. G. W. (2009). Big tests: What
ends do they serve? Educational Leadership,
36( 3), 32–37.
EL
2Bennett, S. (2007). That Workshop Book.
Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Cris Tovani is a high school reading
specialist and a teacher of English at
Smoky Hill High School, Aurora,
Colorado. She is the author of I Read It,
But I Don’t Get It: Comprehension
Strategies for Adolescent Readers
(Stenhouse, 2000) and Do I Really Have
to Teach R eading? (Stenhouse, 2004).
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