Meeting Students Where They Are

The starting point written in a lesson plan may be different from the starting point a learner actually has. Some students arrive ready to extend an idea. Others need an essential piece explained again. Attentive teaching begins by discovering that difference and responding to the people who are present.

First Peter describes gifts as resources to be stewarded for others. Speaking and serving belong within the strength God supplies, and love gives shape to the shared life of the community. The focus rests on faithful use of what has been entrusted to us. Our capacity has a purpose beyond displaying our own competence.

For educators, that stewardship includes making a learning task appropriately challenging. Students may work toward a common idea through different examples, amounts of support, or levels of complexity. A brief conversation or initial task can help locate what they understand before we decide what they need next.

This requires care with labels. A current level of performance is information for planning, not a complete account of a learner’s future. Groups and supports should remain open to change as understanding develops. We can communicate high regard for a student while being precise about the skill that still requires teaching.

Bring one learner’s starting point into prayerful attention today. Ask what you know and what you have assumed. Choose a fitting next challenge and make the support available without unnecessary embarrassment. The gift of teaching becomes concrete when we use our knowledge to help another person take a step they could not yet see how to take.