One of my favorite opportunities that I had was when I was able to work with a student one-on-one. The rest of the students were taking a test that this student did not have to take so I was able to work with her in the back. We worked on cutting and gluing papers for her history notebook. This student is one of the quietest girls in the class and unless you work with her one-on-one chances are you're not going to get to know her very well.
So, we were just cutting and gluing and it was going well because it's not a task that requires a lot of thought we were able to talk quietly. I asked her about some of the things that she had been learning and some of the activities that had been done in the classroom. I ended up learning that this girl, despite her quiet nature, actually has quite a good sense of humor. I could also tell that she enjoyed getting positive attention. Being able to work one-on-one with this student was good for her and for me.
But another confirmation of the importance of getting to know students individually actually came from watching the teacher work with the students individually. While the students were in music class she would pull them one by one and test their reading skills. She didn't really have conversations with them for more than maybe ten seconds because she was short on time. But still, even just checking their reading they were able to get to know her better and she was able to get to them better. It was a positive experience for both people. And it's a good way to know what type of learning style that student is. In addition, working one-on-one with students makes it so that you can help each student individually even if that student has disabilities.
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