Random Thoughts on the First Two Weeks of School

Thought # 1 What do “engaged students” look like? Are they students who are moving around the room to different stations every time they hear a timer? Are they students who know signals or cues for everything that occurs in a classroom? Are they students who are “having fun” completing lots of “hands on activities”?  ....or are they students involved in authentic reading, writing and problem solving?

Thought #2 What is professional collaboration? Can real collaboration be mandated? Can authentic collaborative groups be assigned by someone outside the group? Which should come first – a collaborative group or a problem or project that needs to be addressed? … or maybe real professional collaboration occurs when professionals see a problem or project that needs to be addressed and come together to meet the challenge.

Thought #3 Mountains of testing…. DIBELS …. Theme Tests …. Progress Monitoring…STAR …SAT… Is it beneficial to the student? Is it helpful to the teacher? Is it used to inform teaching? Is it developmentally appropriate? Is it worth the time and resources? … Or maybe we should think about …. Individual conferencing, keeping student portfolios (not portfolios of bubble-in-the-one-right-answer tests, but portfolios of student writing, or other more authentic products), keeping anecdotal records of student learning behavior.

Just thinking…

Why I Don't Want to Be Common

Most states in our great nation have recently adopted the “Common Core Standards”. I have recently done quite a lot of reading about these standards in preparation to be a co-presenter on the implementation of the standards at my school. I have no doubt that the intent of those who developed these standards was good. We all want all students across our country to develop reading, language, and math skills that will allow them to reach their college or career goals. We all want teachers and parents to have clear and focused goals for their children. Although these standards are not perfect they are laudable and manageable academic goals I suppose.

But…. I don’t want to be “common” and I don’t want my students to be either. Common means “pertaining or belonging equally to an entire community" (dictionary.com) I have been teaching a long time and have had hundreds of students. There is no “common” student nor is there a “common” teacher! Each one brings a unique personality and a unique set of abilities. Teaching and learning is about bringing each student up as far as possible in the time I have with them. Teaching and learning is about creating an environment where individualism, inventiveness, creativity, freedom of thought and ideas are valued. Teaching and learning is about authentic interaction between teachers and students that cannot be legislated or mandated or assessed by a national set of standards.