Torey Hayden, as a teacher, had decided that no one’s worth, in her class, was ever going to be decided over the paperwork that the child had done.
The true value of the child was the complete child. And each child’s true value could never be measured on paper because children change from day to day, and each child shines in different ways from day to day.
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The way I see it is that if 20 years ago someone wrote something, and to judge that person on that paper 20 years ago is ridiculous. And the same is judging a child on a test or piece of paper they wrote on 365 days earlier.
Children are in constant change, their home life changes, their families members stress, die, etc, life has ups and downs, and that affects all the exams and paperwork that the child does in school. The child’s views of life and people change from year to year, even week to week for some, opinions change, and this is clear evidence that 365 days later the child in front of you could be totally different from the child a fellow teacher taught 365 days ago.
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Like adults, children have their good and bad days, they lose their temper, but so do we. We have no right to condemn and judge others when we may blow our cool at home for some silly reason, exactly what a child would do.
Some children can be exasperating, but we also must bear in mind that at times in our own life we were too.
Childhood is a short period of time in a person’s life, it would be such a shame to unbalance that period of time for a child because we, the teacher/parent is not understanding the true needs of a child growing up.
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We must be understanding of the child’s needs, not just what the education board demands of us. To be effective and to make a difference in the world we need to see beyond first, second and third impressions and see the real value of the child and discover this child’s needs to help the child grow.
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All the best from
James M Sandbrook.
Thursday, 24 March 2016, 9:52:26 AM.