One of the teachers in our Learning by Design project describes the differences amongst the students in her classroom:

A majority of my students are content and happy. Just like all of us, they have good days and bad. All are special and wonderful. There are however, personality traits of some children that are quite distinctive. One boy is a great story teller. I love the way he introduces each topic or story, “Mrs La Rocca, do you know what happened, let me tell ya.” The way in which he speaks, his facial expressions and the tone he uses are so colourful and rich and humorous. You can’t help having a little bit of a giggle and say “No I don’t know what happened Jacob, you tell me.” This often means listening for 5 minutes. He has such a great gift of being able to tell stories. Unfortunately he doesn’t know when to stop or when to let others share their thoughts. One girl has very little self confidence and yet she is very clever academically. She often doesn’t share information or her work because she fears she has made a mistake or that others will find her ideas boring. She speaks very softly in hope that if the response of others is negative then hopefully they have not heard her at all. One boy just can’t keep still or remain focused for more than 3 minutes. He doesn’t understand why others are able to do so. He unable to follow the lead of other children. He’ll remain standing while others are sitting, he’ll talk out loud while others are listening quietly or put up their hand. This boy has a great smile and a wonderful disposition. He does these things never out of malice, just a different sense of self. He amazes me because he has a very challenging and often ‘sad’ home life. I’m not sure I could cope so well. I have a girl who is Mummy’s one and only princess. Unfortunately all that attention has made her think she is better than others and she has no hesitation in giving negative comments. She then gets very angry if others say similar things back. She also gets angry if others don’t want to play with her. Her mum doesn’t understand either. I have a wonderful boy who is funny and interesting, unfortunately he doesn’t think he is. He has established an extremely strong friendship with another boy and gets him to say and do everything for him. Often he just mumbles or shies away, but he always has a smile. We are trying to get him to believe in himself and to share that joy with others and not just one.

Burrows, Peter, Bill Cope, Mary Kalantzis, Les Morgan, Kieju Suominen and Nicola Yelland. 2006. ‘Data from the Australian Research Council Learning By Design Project.’ Unpublished Manuscript.

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