Chapter 1 FIAE

The major premise of the book seems to focus on being fair but not equal.  If we taught every student equally some would do better and some worse and some average just because of their different learning styles and needs.  The teacher is expected to provide each student with a fair chance of completing the required work even if it differs from student to student.  I thought it was interesting that the book talked about how many of the sentences that we start with today (concerning scientific knowledge or understanding) is what is currently known now.  This book leaves the possibility open that changes will occur in our understanding of how the brain works and that teachers should adapt accordingly.  This impacts me because in addition to understanding how the brain learns, I need to know how to effectively use my resources to help each student learn what they need to complete the class goals.  The comment that the book makes about differentiated teaching helps the student understand how they learn.  This could be an important area to explore in the classroom is getting the students involved and asking how they think they would learn best.  The result would be open communication between student and teacher and provide more effective ways of learning and teaching.  The discussion of how the real world is as differentiated as the classroom should be is fascinating.  I hope to integrate that into the classroom by pointing it out to students.  This way they can see the different strategies and supports that are put in place to better help their learning.