A continued promotion of learning comes from understanding ones students, knowing them on an emotional, developmental and academic level. What is going on inside the individual is as important as what is going on within the classroom environment. It is just as important that I pay conscious attention to what students bring into the room each day, as to the lesson plans, daily activities and schedule. Furthermore, it is imperative that I do my best to recognize when there are issues that are brought into the classroom and in turn need to be addressed, focused on and may trump any other plans for the day. Powerful learning can take place from each other's experiences, ideas, concerns and hypotheses. I believe that the best learning can come from paying careful attention to what kids bring to the table, whether they bring a worm found on the way to class or news of their parents divorce. As the educator I must be willing to move past daily lessons and planned schedules if the student's needs should be met in another way.

It is important to pay special attention to what the developmentally appropriate practice is for the class as a whole as well as for each individual child. We must take value in where each student falls on the developmental spectrum; individual differences and cultural sensitivities must be felt from the entire group. Perhaps most importantly remembering that learning is made up of activities that are enjoyable and student initiated, student directed and teacher supported. When learning is built in this student centered form the aspect of fun and the value of learning is instilled in the students learning experience, and hopefully brings students one step closer to becoming life long learners. I believe that recognizing education, learning and intelligence is more than the traditionally valued “reading, writing and arithmetic.” There are many areas of learning and many forms of intelligence that students can be a part of. A classroom should value all of these, and should foster the learning and developing of them as well. Students should feel that they could explore the areas in which they excel and that they are challenged to explore areas in which they struggle. Daily academic tasks should involve numerous intelligences and not simply logical-mathematical when doing math. Art, drama, writing, and singing can all be a part of learning math facts, and my more Cognitive view of learning suggests that the deeper we process new information the easier that it is to remember it. Within any given lesson we must present material in a multitude of ways and help students to construct their own understanding of the given pieces of information giving the new knowledge value and connection and thus a deeper level of processing and higher chance for retention. Recognizing that students construct connections and learn differently does nothing but encourage the integration of all intelligences, mediums and styles of learning into daily classroom curriculum.

With each new challenging piece of information I must start with the concrete, what they already know to be true and build on that until we reach the abstract in all areas of learning. As a teacher, it is my job to cultivate all these things; a culturally and developmentally appropriate community that students take and have ownership in so that learning can take place. I must encourage a “post-conventional” level of thinking, where students as a part of our learning community are making decisions based on values in all aspects of their life and simply for the benefit of a reward or not getting into trouble.

In supporting their the growth of knowledge within a student it is important to encourage new learning and thinking as they continue to grow and develop and to cause what Piaget notes as the “optimal-mismatch,” that is the ideal discrepancy between current cognitive structures and challenging new information. As a teacher I must foster learning in a way that is just with each student's development and ability by modeling it, scaffolding and helping other students to scaffold for one another, we must work as a team. Education is complex, it is not simple, it is a world filled with new ideas, experiences, history, creativity and fun, and it is imperative that it is experienced within the classroom community as a whole. All students can learn once they feel their basic needs of feeling valued, safe, respected have been met and that they have been able to construct their own understanding in a community that is theirs. We must “hold hands and stick together,” we must help each other to learn and we must learn from one another, my students from me, my students from each other and perhaps most importantly I must learn from my students.