Blog #2: Readings-Ch.1 and 2

One of the quotes that I liked from the book comes from Ch. 2 towards the bottom of page 19: "...because students...differ so greatly, the premise of differentiation is that while students have the same basic needs, those needs will manifest themselves in different ways, depending on the student's gender, culture, general life experiences, talents, interests, learning preferences, affective development, cognitive development, and support systems".

I agree with this because even though all students need to be challenged, have purpose, be affirmed, etc., they will need to have these needs met in different ways. For example, challenging for one student might be too challenging for another or not challenging enough or not even a kind of challenge that the student will respond too. When I was in elementary school, I did like any kind of challenges that put me on the spot or that were competitive, but for other students, making things a competition will encourage them to do better. For a shy student, something challenging might be more individual, like a competition against them self. So, although all students need challenge, as a teacher I'll have to figure out what kind of challenge motivates each of my students and what makes them shut down and not want to try.