Students' knowledge...

I have often heard the old addage that children are smarter than we sometimes take them to be. Knowledge, at times, can be hidden from view (due to their abilities/desires or ours). I see our jobs as educators to get to know our students well, and find ways to encourage their abilities and give them credit for what they know, not what they don't know. Do we know our students solely based upon their performance within school based upon grades on assignments, tests and exams?

Onoe of the "isms" sees children as empty buckets and that it is the job of the teacher to fill that bucket. However students come into our classrooms with knowledge that might not be readily apparent to us at first. Teaching and curriculums does not mean filling an empty mind. This knowledge, buried or not readily apparent, that children bring into the classroom is huge. We just have to delve deep to find it.

Over the past year I have worked on my observational skills and listening skills to enhance this searching analysis. These courses have taught me that through observation and listening to students, as partners in education, we can see what they know and determine, through their guidance, where our teaching needs to go next. I find that curriculum at times ties our hands in our ability to do this. I understand the need for accountability, but at times does it run contradictory to students' needs?