Chapter 2: What Really Matters in Teaching? (The Students)

This chapter definitely forces the focus towards the students, where it should be. The examples the chapter gave of students who have barriers that need accommodation were striking. The example of Noah, who couldn’t sit still at his desk because he was a physical learner, really stood out to me as a fidgeter myself. I remember putting a lot of effort into suppressing that motion instead of putting the effort into learning, and I’m glad people are starting to pay attention to what really matters in a classroom. The chart in the chapter shows how much variation there is in any given classroom.