Alexa Hampel

April 29th 2015

Introduction
When teachers value their childrens opinions and experiences, children begin to think
more openly, and we begin to see them differently.
-Ayers, To Teach, 1993
My freshman year of high school, I was in almost every possible honors course; English,
science, math, history, you name it, I was in it. Quickly I realized that it was a vital mistake. At a
time where a person should be learning about themselves and who they are, I was trying to focus
on how to balance three to four hours of homework a night while still trying to maintain an
active social life that almost every 13 year old craves. It all crashed down on me and I
remember very little information I learned that year. My sophomore year, I relaxed with the
course load, having only two honors courses; biology and history. My sophomore honors history
class is what changed the way I viewed learning. I had heard much about the teacher; that he was
young, fun, and entertaining, which, of course, is what a high school student wants out of a
teacher. However, I had a bigger worry on my mind: the AP history exam I was scheduled to take
my junior year. I wanted to make sure I knew and remembered the information I was about to
learn.
I walk in the first day and sitting on our desks were sheets of papers that seemed to be a
test. The test included questions such as what was our name, what were our parents/guardians
names and where they came from, our favorite color and food, what we do outside of class, as
well as a set of questions that eluded how previous classes were taught and how well we retained
the information from said classes. After about ten minutes, our teacher collected our tests and
never brought them up again.

Over the course of the semester, our teacher made it known that he cared about what we
wrote on that test and how it made us who we are. One day I was walking out of class and he
told me to enjoy my time in choir next block. Every so often he went away from his usual sitand-take-notes approach and made a game out of the content before a test. He related historic
figures to people in the present. He would say hello to us each individually every single day. He
made sure the knowledge we learned wasnt just for a test, but it was knowledge we would
remember forever, even though no one outside of s history class would really ask you what the
Tea Act was and how it led to the American Revolution, he presented in a way that made us want
to remember everything for the rest of our lives. I even elected to take an AP European History
course with him my senior year of high school, simply because I knew I would be able to learn
the content in an interesting and inventive way. To this day, I can tell someone just about
everything I learned in the classes I took with him. After having been through this class, I
realized how important it is to know youre students; how much better students learn in an
environment where they are actually an important individual.
Who are you teaching?
The strongest course of knowledge about the students remains the student
-Ayers, To Teach, 1993
My teaching philosophy is a rather simple one: know the students. Know their culture,
their parents and their backgrounds, their learning styles (as laid out by Bernice McCarthy), their
interests outside of the classroom, the content they are learning in other areas they are studying,
amongst other things. In order to explore how to approach learning how and what to know about
your students, I will be examining the ideas presented and explored by Joan Wink, Bernice

McCarthy, William Ayers, Simpson, Douglas, Jackson, Aycock, and Michael Raiber respectively
and how they relate to the topic of knowing your student in order to teach the best possible way
for each individual.
My first inspiration comes from Wink (Wink, 2011). She states Culture is far larger that
we might have previously thought. (Wink 2011, pg 69) In order to understand our students, we
have to understand their culture. Culture encompasses much more than a students religious and
ethnic background. Though they are both incredibly important, culture is language, interests;
culture is anything students surround themselves with. Learning the students culture is important
when teaching.
Bernice McCarthy (McCarthy, 2013) explored the 4-MAT system of learning in The
Learning Cycle, the 21st Century and Millennial Learners. Each of the quadrants explores a
specific approach to learning. It is important to know which students as why? Which students ask
what? which students ask how? and which students ask if? Teaching is being able to understand
how each student learns, and which approach is best for them. If a student is more of a type one
learner (one who focuses more on feeling and reflecting) and a teacher is teaching to the type
threes (one who thinks conceptually and acts on things more quickly) the type one learner will
have incredible difficulty when trying to understand the content being taught, and will find it
even more difficult to remember and grasp the information; they will ultimately feel unwelcome
and very behind in the class. It is important to be adaptable and change the methods of teaching
if the students learn a different way than perhaps is being taught. It is also important to know that
no one learning style is better than the other; all learning styles are equal, and all students are
capable the same things, they just approach it in different ways.

Rabier (Rabier, 2013) explored the knowledge a teacher must be aware of and learn about
their students. He explored race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, sexual identity, and
poverty level. It is important to be aware of these traits in each student. If, while teaching, you
ignore any of these traits, many students can feel incredibly marginalized. In order to avoid
marginalization in the classroom, the teaching must allow for all students to express themselves
and their backgrounds.
Ayers (Ayers, 1993) explored ways in which teachers can learn and apply the knowledge
the students have of themselves. Ayers explained how the most important source of knowledge
on the students is the students themselves. He states teachers need to be one part detective;
we need to be one part researcher; we need to be one part world-class puzzle master
(Ayers, 1993, pg 41) Teachers need to be learning constantly about the students, making sure
they are able to find out any information available.
Simpson, Jackson, and Aycock (Simpson, Jaskcon, & Aycock, 2005) explored John
Deweys theories of education in their book. They stated A love of contact with students is also
crucially important in the teachers coming to have an extensive understanding of them and,
thereby, diagnosing their educational needs (Simpson, Jackson, & Aycock, 2005, pg 55)
Having a connection with the individual students makes the learning process more fluid, for both
the students knowledge of the class and the teachers knowledge of the students. They also said
that John Dewey believed Enjoying contact with children, staying young at heart, and retaining
sympathy for the young,type of love of the successful teacher. (Simpson, Jackson, & Aycock
2005, pg 56) Simply put, teaching must be out of the love for youth and their growth of
knowledge. Teaching is about the students. Teaching is for the students. If there is no respect for

the students, there is a lack of communication, and a barrier is built. The wall can be torn down
by the thirst for knowledge about the pupils one is teaching.
Teaching is Learning
By not being able to tell me anything about themselves, they were telling me everything.
-Conroy, The Water is Wide, 1972
All conscientious teachers need to ask themselves what they need to know in order be
successful with this kid and with this one and with this one.But no less important is the
knowledge of the child, and more: the knowledge about the contexts and circumstances of his or
her lifeknowledge of the society and world were initiating our youngsters into. This is not
only vast, but its also dynamic and swirling and expanding and changing.
-Ayers, To Teach, 1993, pg 46
This quote truly captures the essence of knowing your students. It is important to know
the world they are living in. Society and culture are ever changing while teaching stays constant;
however, and the approach of the teaching needs to change with the times. To only way to
change and keep up with the change is to know the students and know what they value in life,
whether its family traditions, pop stars, or even a popular viral video circulating the younger
population.
By ascertaining and using students interests, existing expertise, and personal goals, good
teachers design their learning activities to build upon their students strengths. Rather that acting
as if students were empty vessel for teachers to fill with knowledge, good teachers acknowledge
that students come to school each day with vast and rich personal histories.

-Abrahams and John, Planning instruction in music: Writing objectives, assessments, and lesson
plans to engage artistic processes, 2005, pg 10
Being able to take what the students know about everyday life and what they enjoy
outside of school and turn it into a lesson is incredibly resourceful. By taking the interests of the
students and applying them to the lessons, it creates a more interactive experience with the
student and the class as a whole. Teaching is about realizing that each student is an individual an
brings a unique set of experiences to the learning environment.
It is vastly important to incorporate the popular culture of the students in the teaching
process. When something the students enjoy can be brought into the class, full of knowledge
they, inherently, might not care about; it makes the dynamic more interesting and automatically
sparks the students interests in the learning process before them. When the knowledge the
students have of things outside the classroom can be brought into and used in the class, they feel
they are involved in the teaching and have a specific place in the process, having crucial
knowledge for what is going on inside the classroom.
Taking all of the knowledge of the students; their needs, their appreciations, their family,
their backgrounds, their society, their interests, and applying it to the classroom lesson makes the
students feel more included and what drives the learning process along. If lessons are
personalized to students and taken what you learn from them, they become more involved in
their own learning, and the teacher can become more of a facilitator.
A real-world application of the knowledge of the students is in the memoir by Pat
Conroy (Conroy, 1972). In it, Conroy, the teacher, teaches in an environment very unfamiliar to
him, but, after having learned their culture and their background, is able to reach each student

individually and teaches them in a way unlike any before him was able to. Once he sees each
student as an individual with specific needs, he curves the content he is teaching and applies
what they knew to his teaching, thus having the students retain the information being taught.
Conclusion
Your teaching can become particularly powerful when you align what you know about
your students with the content you teach.
-Raiber, The Journey from Music Student to Teacher: A Professional Approach, 2013
If my high school history teacher did not take the time to get to know each and every one
of his students, I would never have known what it felt to be welcomed and wanted in a
classroom. To him, the class was no longer just a group of people that he had to spew knowledge
to, hoping that they would retain the knowledge; that class, and every class before and after, was
a group of individuals with different cultures, specific needs, and diverse learning styles.
Knowing the students adds an interesting, but necessary, element to the class. Teaching is, once
again, about the students, not the teacher, and in order to make it about the students, you have to
know who they are. If students feel as if they are welcome and individualized in a space, they
become more open to the learning process, which should be the goal main goal of a teacher. If, as
a teacher, you are missing the opportunities to gain insightful knowledge of the students, you are
missing the chance to alter your learning environment. If a teacher, just as my history teacher
did, takes time out and realizes the students are individuals, the learning process becomes more
open, and the teaching becomes more reachable.

References:
Wink, J. (2011). Critical pedagogy: Notes from the real world (4th ed.). New York: Longman.
McCarthy, B. (2012). The learning cycle: The 21st century and millennial learners: Who they
are and how to teach them. Wauconda, IL: About Learning.
Simpson, D., & Jackson, M. (2005). John Dewey and the art of teaching: Toward reflective and
imaginative practice. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage Publications.
Conroy, P. (1972). The water is wide. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
Ayers, W. (1993). To teach: The journey of a teacher. New York: Teachers College Press.
Raiber, M., & Teachout, D. (n.d.). The journey from music student to teacher: A professional
approach.
Abrahams, F., & John, R. (2015). Planning instruction in music: Writing objectives, assessments,
and lesson plans to engage artistic processes. Chicago IL: GIA Publications.