Understanding Your Students: Response Paper

First of all, the content assigned for this week helped me to form a general idea as to how to

deal with special populations. This idea basically consists of two steps: Realizing their

individual differences and adapt my teaching accordingly, which makes it relevant to

differentiated instruction as well. This approach would dramatically enhance the learning in

the classroom. However, as most of the classes all around the world are overcrowded, this

might be really challenging to apply. So, in practical terms, my approach is not precisely

applicable. I have also learned that student-centered discussions and this kind of class

environment bring about a higher level of academic achievement. Thereby, as a student

teacher, I would definitely consider this when I become a teacher.

From my perspective, the anxiety of the students is one of the most compelling reasons for

academic underperformance. So, the remediation approach of which I have heard for the first

time from this week’s readings, might be exceedingly beneficial for a better learning

environment.

I would also like to touch on multiple intelligences -although I already knew about this theory

from last year’s Educational Psychology course- as this is highly associated with inadequate

teaching and learning. Educators generally tend to adopt only one way of teaching and

evaluation regardless of the students’ different interests and abilities, resulting in low

performances in different tests and activities. When I become a teacher, I would introduce my

students to specific learning methods and various assessment ways to overcome this problem.

In chapter 2, in the effects of culture part, it is stated that some teaching techniques might be

culturally sensitive. This statement is quite absurd for me as a student teacher since I strongly

believe that teachers should not shape their style because of such factors. It is, however,

definitely right that cultural aspects are incredibly influential in educational settings.
I have also come to know two different terms, which are field-dependent and field-

independent. These terms are apparently counted as personality traits, and I believe this

classification might be rather beneficial for the teaching and learning process: Getting to

know the students and classify their individual aspects would offer much, and from my

perspective, this structured classification is what might be needed to this end. However, given

characteristics are discussable as they are marked off categorically. Rather than this kind of

sharp and specific classification, a relatively fluid one can be put forward which would result

in more effective teaching. And what is this approach to do with my future profession? When

I become a teacher, one of my main concerns would be my students’ individual

characteristics. I would try to get to know them as much as possible and adapt everything

related to teaching and learning according to these characteristics. For example, if one of my

students prefers to work alone and figure things out by themselves, I would give them some

space and time; whereas for field-dependent learners, I would provide them with close

supervision and help they need.