Discovering students' knowledge through observation and community building.

It has been said that children are smarter than we sometimes acknowledge them to be. Knowledge can be, at times, hidden from view. Our job as teachers is to get to know our students very well, and find ways to make sure we give them due credit for what they know. But will we know our students solely upon the grades given on quizzes, tests, and worksheets?

Students come into our classrooms with knowledge that may not be apparent to the teacher at first. Sometimes it is assumed that a child brings nothing new to school and that the teacher's job is to fill an empty bucket. Anne Haas Dyson (2003) writes that "it is a serious error to assume that any child brings nothing new to experiences. Indeed, all reputable developmental accounts assume nothing comes from nothing." Teaching does not mean filling a blank mind. The knowledge that children bring into the classroom is immense; we just have to look critically to find it. Take literacy, for example. A student may seem to know very little about writing or reading as she enters school. Once we begin to observe the student writing on a piece of paper, however, we might see something completely different. She may understand that print goes left to right and top to bottom and that letters are used to form words. She may demonstrate, through her attempts to read the words, an understanding that writing should hold meaning.

When I began student teaching, I was given the assignment to observe one student for a day. I worked on my observation skills during the entire experience. My mentor taught me that through observing our students and understanding them as people, we can truly see what they know and determine where our teaching needs to go next.

What are other ways that we can come to know our students besides through observation? One way is to create a community in the classroom. Building a positive community is a powerful way to establish a rapport between students and the teacher. Community in the classroom helps teachers understand the knowledge a child brings to school. When students are safe and able to take risks in their environment, when they have the security to succeed and sometimes struggle, we will be rewarded with their best efforts. We should work towards creating classrooms abounding with mutual respect for every person. As Ralph Peterson writes in his book Life in a Crowded Place: Making a Learning Community (1992), the job of creating a community is a tough task, but well worth the effort.

It is my hope that over the summer months, we will look for new ways to make our learning environments special places where our students will feel daily success and enjoy learning.

References

Dyson, A. (2003). Popular literacies and the "all" children: Rethinking literacy development for contemporary childhood. Language Arts, 81, 100-109.

Peterson, R. (1992). Life in a crowded place: Making a learning community. Portsmouth, NH: Heinmann.

Aaron Parsons 

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