I’ve heard the phrase “meet them where they are” a few times in my life, and all times they have been used revolving around education. As it has been mentioned, this phrase can be used both philosophically and practically. In my opinion, the definition of this phrase, or meaning, is the same for both. When talking about education, meeting the students where they are means that you, as the teacher, are encountering them at the education level that they are at, not behind, or not ahead. This helps the student to feel comfortable in the spot they are at versus being rushed.
When hearing this phrase, the first thing that comes to mind is my experience in first and second grade. I was in my multi-age classroom with Ms. Green, where the two grades were combined. One would think that teaching two grades at the same time would be difficult, but Ms. Green knew how to handle it. There were students in our class that I remember that had some learning disabilities. Instead of forcing everyone on the same track of her lesson plan, Ms. Green took careful consideration when switching between units and subjects to make sure that everyone was on the same page. She met us where we were at in our education.
Another, more recent, example of this concept of meeting the students where they are at is my experience volunteering in K-4 classrooms this past spring during my 4th block in high school. I had the opportunity to work with over 180 students ranging from 4K all the way up to fourth graders and assist them with different subjects including science, coding, language arts, physical education, and math. When thinking about meeting them where they are, one student in particular comes to mind. She was in the second grade class that I worked with and had a significant lower level of reading than the other students in the class. She was reading at a kindergarten level, whereas her classmates were reading between second and fifth grade level books. I was assigned the task of sitting next to her and helping her to sound out words and sentences to improve her reading skills. It broke my heart the first time I worked with her because she told me that her classmates make fun of her for what she reads and so do her siblings at home. She didn’t feel comfortable where she was at, so she needed someone to meet her where she was. Over the 8 weeks that I was there, and with some practice on her own at home and during silent reading with the teacher, she was able to get her reading level up. She could do it, she just needed someone to meet her where she was at, and help her along the path to improve.
As educators, we are there to help our students along the way to achieve their academic goals. We aren’t there to reprimand them and make them hate school. The phrase “meet them where they are at” shows me that we need to make sure students feel comfortable in their environment and for them to realize that it is okay if they are not where everyone else is. It is our responsibility to meet them where they are and help them along the way to being as successful as they can be.
