"Teaching Beyond the Book"

Think about the article “Teaching Beyond the Book.” Why do we want to teach to kids’ strengths? How is this helpful to students? to teachers? Is there a relationship between strength and interests?

It is very important to teach to the strengths of our students. By recognizing their strengths, a teacher can make students feel more valuable in the classroom and also make them more motivated to learn. Displaying each student's individual strengths in the classroom can improve peer relations and individual students' self-esteem. Teachers also were shown to see more potential in their students when they were aware of their individual strengths, and taught those students more effectively and in a more differentiated manner.

Recognizing student strengths is helpful to teachers as well as students; it makes the students easier to teach. By allowing students to research their areas of interest as they relate to the Civil War, Mrs. Lupold ignited a desire to learn in her students. This, I'm sure, made the unit incredibly more interesting for both the teacher and the students. By allowing them to bring in their own research, the unit was given an entirely new flavor.

There is a very strong relationship between strength and interest. We often exhibit our biggest strengths in areas that are of interest to us. Like the example of the boys building in class in the article. They are very interested in building, and exceptionally good at it. The teacher used this interest and strength to make those boys interested in writing. By tapping into the interests of students, we can increase their strengths in other areas.