Interest and Engagement Were Important

-Learning interest and engagement were important variables when planning lessons. Standard curriculum was taught but tailored to the needs, strengths, weaknesses and interests of children.

"The fact is that given the challenges we face, education doesn't need to be reformed -- it needs to be transformed. The key to this transformation is not to standardize education, but to personalize it, to build achievement on discovering the individual talents of each child, to put students in an environment where they want to learn and where they can naturally discover their true passions."
— Ken Robinson (The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything)

I have included this quote from Sir Ken Robinson, because I think it speaks volumes about how we view instruction.
It is far easier to create a general lesson plan based on the curriculum that is provided by the district, than it is to listen to students, and determine what interests them. However, when we find what a student is interested in, we unlock the key to their motivation to read and learn.

The video below is a lecture given by Sir Ken Robinson. While motivation is just one of the many points that he addresses, I feel that this video is relevant to the topic because he focuses on creating instruction that is student-centered.