Tim Laner

Tim Laner, a K-1-2 multiage teacher at Buckman Elementary School in Portland, Oregon, discusses how schools can provide learning experiences that nurture and build upon the experiences that each child has had. Excerpted from a videotaped interview with Tim Laner (North Central Regional Educational Laboratory, 1998).

"I think that the school has a responsibility too, just like we expect families to have students come to school ready to learn. Schools have to be a little flexible too, and realize that not all your students don't are coming from the same background, and that they don't all have the same opportunities, and you have to adjust and you have to plan. If the child does not have the opportunity, you have to think of a way to give them the opportunity so they have the reading experience or whatever, so if, for example, if they for some reason the student or family be it a language difference or whatever maybe aren't getting books or reading at home, you find a way to supplement that. Maybe you find an older sibling, you look for strategies that will get the child the opportunity that child needs."

This Critical Issue was researched and written by Jeanette Vo-Vu, program specialist with the Center for School and Community Development, North Central Regional Educational Laboratory, in collaboration with Judy Caplan, coordinator of school and family partnerships with the Center for School and Community Development, North Central Regional Educational Laboratory, and Lynne Huske, Pathways coordinator.

Date posted: 1999