This is one question that I worry about for when I actually have my own classroom.  I want to teach a subject, and I want my students to understand and apply the concept to daily learning.  Moreover, I want to reinforce skills throughout the year to allow for an easy transition to long-term memory.  I want my students to be life long learners. 

It takes a lot to teach skills/concepts, but it takes the extra step to assess those skills/concepts to measure understanding.  Furthermore, it takes even more effort to ensure that all students are retaining the skills/concepts and there must be a lot of reinforcing throughout the semester to encourage a transfer of information into long term memory.  That is one of the ultimate goals of a teacher.  It is one thing to have students memorize some facts for a test and score a 100%–then ask them to repeat the test at the end of the year and they fail it.  The idea is to have a child perform a given task/skill and score above average and when repeated at the end of the year, the child meets the previous score or even scores higher. 

As teachers, we are responsible for providing the building blocks of education–as elementary teachers we provide the foundation to get kids through school.  We don’t want the foundation collapsing as the child is incorporating new building blocks.  Our goal is to provide a strong foundation to allow for a strong sturdy building.  If we accurately measure our students’ understanding of materials that we teach, and fix the problem areas–there is a good chance for that reliable foundation.  Throughout the elementary and high school years, skills tend to build upon one another from year to year.  Therefore, if this motto is practiced throughout each year the child progresses in school, then the child is connecting prior experiences to new learning experiences–they are participating in a life long learning experience–that is our goal.