Today my kids had an assignment, they were put in groups and had to “act out” the phases of the moon. I didn’t care how they did it or what they used, their only requirement it to use their bodies. So cheesy activity but really shows me who and who does not know what is going on. While one of the groups were practicing and getting their “act” together a student asked me “Mrs. Dykes is this going to be graded?” This is the teacher’s most annoying question. So I answered “um yeah” and the student then went on to say “But it is not a worksheet, how can you give me a grade for it?” Ummmmmm. “Because you worked on this and it shows me what you know.” The students then went back to their groups and started pow-wowing on how worksheets would be so much easier.

[Now before I get comments on how grading is bad, I really don’t want to hear about it, I do not get a choice, I have to give kids grades and I work really hard to have them reflect what they are learning more than just an average]

Well here is my problem. My goal for my students this year is as follows: Learn. Become problem solvers. Become thinkers. You see none of that includes fill in worksheets, become better test takers, know more about my curriculum, make A’s. Yes I want them to know my curriculum but it comes with the rest of it. See I don’t even have worksheets to give them.

The question becomes this, why do they want boring worksheets? Well, it is easy. It is part of playing school. See, for years they have been playing school. Showing up in the morning, filling in worksheets with answers from the book, getting study guides exactly like the test, taking the tests. All of this usually equals an A. It becomes so easy to get in the motions of school.

Our job as educators is to get them out of this. Stop look at your grade book and your lesson plans. Are the activities focused on learning or are they part of playing school? I have been in the past been guilty of allowing this, but I can really hope that as of now, playing school will get you nowhere in this classroom. Sometimes it is as simple as going back through bloom taxonomy and making sure we are focusing on the top of the pyramid instead of the bottom.

Playing school is easy on both the teacher and the student. But easy is not always better. In reality we are cheating out students out of a real education.

Every time I sign onto Twitter or Facebook I see someone posting outrage about MidEastern countries blocking YouTube because an anti-Islam video. School districts block YouTube everyday. No one really seems to outraged by that. Except teachers who spend their nights at home trying to download videos to use for teaching the next day. Oh wait, Google is making it where you cannot download videos. So anyway children are being cheated out of education, that is all. You may go back to griping now.

Ever have one of those years where you feel like it may kill you. Having it. Tomorrow starts only 4th week. Not sure how to handle it. It’s weird bc lessons are going well. That’s if I can get a lesson going. Classes are huge. Behavior is taxing. Just for one day I’d like to finish a sentence or two without interruption (and I really don’t talk much). I’m tired, make that exhausted. I find myself complaining often.

I have a reading class and for the 2nd year I’m clueless what to do with it. Doesn’t help the class is a nightmare from food fights in lunchroom to completely ignoring me when I speak. Give me a remedial math class any day of the week but a reading class of 31 6th graders and I’m lost.

I feel like a fraud blogging and giving advice on teaching when I seem to get through a day without having to hold my breath and count to 10. I feel like a fraud going to the Bammy’s next weekend because I’m not feeling to confident about my teaching and worthy of being in that group. I feel like a fraud because I know my gift is helping teachers more than it is being in the classroom. But there are not many jobs around here that would allow me to do that, heck when a job does come up I can’t even get an interview.

I feel stuck. I’m not sure why I’m putting myself in this vulnerable position by blogging it but I figured this is my explanation if I disappear for a while from blogging. I know its not for pity or “bless your heart” but this is a place I’ve always been completely honest. Hopefully I’ll find my niche. Until then, well, I don’t know.

I saw a tweet this week and I wish I had saved it so I could give credit where it is due, but it said something like  “Every time Call Me Maybe comes on I’m like “OMG not again” then seconds later, I’m all “I threw a wish in the well don’t ask me I’ll never tell.” You know you do that. I so do! Well I am going to be like “Call Me Maybe” and repeat myself. Hopefully it is a good reminder. If it is not a reminder to you or something you don’t agree with, change the station – I am sure Gotye is playing somewhere.

For the rest of us: Back in April of 2010 I wrote this post “Well That Explains It…but I Don’t Like It!” after a meeting with 5th grade teachers from one of our feeder pattern schools. The post talks about how many tests and formal assessments they give and how much it counts toward the kids grades.  I talked about how it explained why my students are always so focused on tests and ignore everything else we do in class. I also wrote this post a year ago about how tests should not be the main reason for students’ grades. While writing that post I kept thinking back to the elementary school my students come from and much testing is taking place. It all just made me annoyed at the time. Well all of this has just entered my personal world so I am getting a taste of how much testing and pressure are being put on the kids.

My daughter is now in first grade. She is a brilliant child. I know most parents say that about their kids, but most people who have met her will agree. This week for the first time I have to deal with her anxiety. This anxiety has come from school, something she usually loves and is easy for her. She had a huge stack of tests and graded worksheets from the week before I had to sign and turn back in. Some of the papers were not perfect scores and I could really tell it was bothering her. My first question was, “You’ve had time in 2 weeks of school to do all of this?!” I am so not a fan of the amount of testing as well as how it made her feel.

I don’t think blaming her teacher is the key here. I know the teacher has her hands tied on what is expected of her. This is what upsets me the most. The school has this culture. This culture is wrong.

Should there be tests? Yeah to some extent. My kids are taking them today, fine, but that has not been our goal the first 3 weeks of school. Our goal has been to learn. Not memorize anything, just learn. Why is learning (I don’t mean getting ready for tests) not a critical goal? Why do we in education feel a test can show us what students are learning? This entire mindset has to change.

As a parent I feel lost as to where to start advocating for my child. Do I start at teacher level, admin, district? Where and how? My house will be going back on the market soon, do I just sit and wait and do nothing about it because she will be going elsewhere, that kind of cheats my future students though. I feel somewhat responsible to doing something, parents who are not aware best practices (hate that phrase but all I could come up with) do not know there are better ways at measuring learning and their kids are being cheated. The state of Alabama just got a new Superintendent, Dr. Tommy Bice who understands how education should be. So often we hear change will not come because it is not starting from the top-down. Well he is on top and is ready to change everything with is Plan 2020 and stop pushing testing and collect data from other facets. Do I just sit back and wait for the change to trickle down from the top? That may take a while. I am not sure. I am at a lost.

So back to sounding like Call Me Maybe and repeating myself. We have to stop testing kids and worksheeting them to death. We have to have goals beyond passing kids or just preparing them for the next grade level. They need to be learning how to collaborate, problem solve, become lifelong learners. THAT needs to be our goals. This post is not to critize the school but to hopefully remind everyone not to get in the testing rut.

…And because it is now already in your head