There aren't any answers

Today in my Field Seminar class we had two guest speakers from the Prospect Center, Lynn Strieb and Rhoda Khanev. Both women taught in Philadelphia for over 30 years and came to class to guide us in a descriptive review process. A descriptive review of a child is a method that some teachers use in order to better understand their students as individual learners and to get feedback and suggestions from other teachers on how best to support that child. The integrated assignment for this term at GSE is to write our own descriptive review of a child that we observe in our student teaching. Hearing about the process from experienced teachers was incredibly helpful in thinking about how to structure the project and its importance for teachers.

It was also a powerful experience to learn from and interact with these women who are clearly passionate about the craft of teaching. Something that stuck out from the session was when Rhoda said, "There aren't any answers." It was comforting to hear an experienced teacher give this piece of advice to us. As someone who is new to the profession, I often feel myself wanting to know the answers or the best way to do things in the classroom. However, it is important to know and understand that "there aren't any answers." Teaching and learning is going to be different for every classroom and for every individual. As a result, we cannot possibly know the answers and will always need to be evaluating and reevaluating our classroom. Rhoda did offer us with the wisdom that "It is a focus on understanding and coming to know the child." She presented a kind of teaching that is filled with compassion and is the kind of teaching that I hope I can pursue.