“Educators understand and apply knowledge of student growth and development.”

The phrasing of this statement makes it read as a conceptual idea but I think this goal has to be understood more literally. When we say “student” we are referring to every student, in the most nebulous sense. “Growth and development” are similarly nebulous in this context, referring to the ways that the entire student body grows and develops across all classrooms and communities. There is validity to studying these matters, just as there is validity to studying sociology and psychology, but it has to be understood as having limitations. When we go into the classroom as teachers we are not teaching “students,” we are teaching Ethan or Courtney or whoever our students are in a particular class at a particular time. Even when we regard a class as being a group of students we risk being too broad in our understanding. The growth and development of each one of our students is our charge.

This is not to say professional development and generalized knowledge don’t help in this area: every theory and case study is a tool in our box that can help us towards this goal. It would also be a mistake to assume that we can learn everything we need from the act of teaching alone as both we and the students can find ways of coping or adjusting which do allow the classroom to function while not revealing underlying issues that students may have.

Lastly, it would be a mistake to understand student growth and development as a purely intellectual pursuit. I believe that a teacher with a warm and friendly disposition is likely to have greater success in this area than someone who has vast knowledge on growth and development but comes across as cold and hostile.

That’s not too on the nose, is it?

I did an activity with my students where we germinated seeds in paper towel and a plastic bag. As a demonstration of growth is was quite effective: a seed, inert, sprung to life under conditions that we don’t usually observe. It takes time and patience, and is not guaranteed to happen. In truth I used squash seeds because they are bigger but these apple seeds that my wife tried sprouted with greater flourish, so going forward they will be my go to. Students can grow with similar flourish, provided that they have the right conditions and are treated with patience and care.