How Do Teachers Individualize the Curriculum?

How Do Teachers Individualize the Curriculum?

In later chapters, we discuss teaching strategies for implementing different aspects of the curriculum. In this section, we concentrate on strategies and practices that specifically address getting to know your students and developing the objective eye that enables you to approach curriculum decisions that will best serve the specific children you teach.

Introductions

Philosopher John Locke (Chapter 1) believed that each baby begins life as a “blank slate” on which all of later experiences are written. Teachers can apply this concept to their own experience by thinking about each child who enters a program or classroom as a blank slate. The teacher might greet each child thinking, “I can’t wait to meet you and get to know you!” or “I wonder what interesting and amazing things you will do today!” As you make plans to meet the seventeen children we described in the opening vignette, let’s look at some ways you might gather information about them so as to “start from scratch” with each child.

Home Visits

Consider that meeting a new teacher, entering the child-care or school setting for the first time, or changing classroom groups can be scary for children! It is therefore advisable to schedule and conduct home visits so that your initial meeting will be in surroundings familiar to the child. A home visit can ease the child’s transition from home to school and give you a chance to see the context in which the child operates outside of school. You can develop valuable insights about children that demystify some of the characteristics they show at school, such as shyness, independence, a boisterous or subdued personality, and social skills. A home visit also tells the family and child that you are interested in them and that you want to develop a positive relationship.