kidwatching

I have been rereading the book Kidwatching: Documenting Children's Literacy Development by Gretchen Owocki and Yetta Goodman in preparation for the Master's class I am teaching at Fordham University and am once again stuck by the message in the preface.

I am sharing it here for all of those passionate teachers out there and encourage you to give this book a read.

I am the teacher who is committed to discovering what each of my students knows, cares about, and can do.

I am the teacher who wants to understand each of my student's ways of constructing and expressing knowledge.

I am the teacher who helps my students connect what they are learning to what they already know.

I am the teacher who respects the language and culture my students learn at home, and who supports the expansion of this knowledge at school.

I am the teacher who knows that there are multiple paths to literacy, and who teaches along each child's path.

I am the teacher who is committed to social justice and to understanding literacy as a sociocultural practice.

I am the teacher who believes that each child can teach me about teaching, language and learning.

I am the teacher who believes in the interconnectedness of language, learning and life.

I am the teacher who supports children in writing I can! on their wings.

I am a kidwatcher.