Struan 1962 - Adm.monash.edu.au

IIMo st of you may be satisfied atfirst to see your cla ss as a class andto organize your work accordingly,but as soon as you can you musttake up the greatest challenge toyour professional skill - the individualdifferences among the childrenyou teach . The rural schoolteacher cannot ignore these differences,because they are forcedupon his attention at once by theage-range of his pupils and thenumber of grades in his school. Ifhe is a good teacher, he pursues thedifferences into each grade.The challenge of individual differencesis not a challenge to turnyour classroom topsy-turvy to thedismay of the head teacher and tothe disappointment of yourself, buta challenge to bear in mind all thetime that your class is a class ofindividuals, each with his own per­_______.sonalitY,_ owJl_ backgro und, owncapacities and special interests, andthat every small step you take inrecognition of all this is a stepforward.STRUAN, 1962It goes much further than beingforb earing when on e child behavesdifferently from the rest. It extendsat least to organizing reading groupsand arithmetic groups at differentlevels and to encouraging some expressionof individuality not onlyin art but in the various forms ofrecorded work. Ultimately it goesto the very heart of all your teaching.It is a stimulating challenge toyour energy, enterprise, and resources;it mak es teaching creative.Nothing will do' more to change thecharacter of our classrooms as timegoes on. Great advances will becomepossible when the averagesize of classes is reduced, but in anyclassroom something can be done,especially as the teacher gains inexperience. How you respond tothe challenge will finally be a mostimportant measure of your successas a real teacher. The College andthe -training-schools-are-not-un".aware of the challenge to them.-George A. Jenkins.Page Five