Children are who they are.
They know what they know.
They bring what they bring.
Our job is not to wish that students knew more or knew differently. Our job is to turn each student’s knowledge and diversity of knowledge we encounter into a curricular strength rather than an instructional inconvenience.
We can do that only if we hold high expectations for all students, convey great respect for the knowledge and culture they bring to the classroom, and offer lots of support in helping them achieve those expectations.
~P. David Pearson, “Reclaiming the Center”
They know what they know.
They bring what they bring.
Our job is not to wish that students knew more or knew differently. Our job is to turn each student’s knowledge and diversity of knowledge we encounter into a curricular strength rather than an instructional inconvenience.
We can do that only if we hold high expectations for all students, convey great respect for the knowledge and culture they bring to the classroom, and offer lots of support in helping them achieve those expectations.
~P. David Pearson, “Reclaiming the Center”
Parents don't send us their worst or least educated children and keep the others at home. They send us the best they've got. My experience is that parents send us (the educators) their children hoping and trusting that we will provide them with skills that will help them be "successful" in life. I don't hear of a lot of parents who intentionally try to sabotage their child's education. Everyone I know wants their child to be bright, smart, and successful. They expect the educators to do what they oftentimes can't. Sometimes they can't because they work too much. Sometimes they can't because they're addicted to drugs. Sometimes they can't because they don't have the education. It doesn't matter what the reason is. We owe the children (and the parents) the best we have to offer.
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