Responsive Teaching: A Narrative Analysis of Three Teachers’ Process and Practice

Andrea reads at a fourth grade level but comprehends poorly. She is shy and dislikes working in groups. Robert is gregarious, loves to read, but struggles with basic math facts. He loves to work with peers, but only if they are his close friends. Judy seems to find school easy and participates in class discussions, but any time she is given a test, she scores poorly. She would prefer to do science experiments all morning long, especially those that involve messy materials. Zachary doesn’t get along well with classmates. He is quiet and gets his work done quickly, but it is often done so quickly that careless mistakes are made.When he is asked to review his work for errors, he will often throw it on the floor and put his head down on his desk. Imagine that these are students in a fourth grade classroom along with 26 others, all equally unique.What is a teacher to do to meet all of their instructional needs? What about their behavioral, social, and emotional needs?