#evaluate that

From the Week of April 1st:

This week marks the end of the NYS ELA testing and because of the controversy surrounding it; these tests have made the local and national media. This year, many students and parents have refused the test. They are making a statement. They are trying to take back education. Their education. 

I have been teaching for 20 years. Over the course of those years, I have seen many changes, some good, and some bad. I remember saying to my (now) husband, six years ago…. “It’s April, I feel like I have a target on my back”. You see, it is testing time and it is budget time. It is when people pay their taxes and then go vote on the school budget in May. Usually, this season lasted for about two weeks of May. Then it became late April and May. Now it is all year long. I feel like I have a target painted on my back as a teacher. I’m sure you have read and heard all the rhetoric: schools are failing, teachers are failing, US students are not performing as well as the rest of the world. Unions and tenure and pensions are the root of the economic recession and the downturn in the economy (certainly not the banks and mortgages) and on and on and on. Teachers are an easy scapegoat. As a group, we are nice people. We work with children. We are accommodating and flexible. We know that things come and go and we can ride the tide.

Everyone thinks they know what teachers do. After all, we all went to school. We had lots of teachers and we know what it is like to be in a classroom. Trust me, if you don’t teach, you have no idea what it is really like. If you did, you would vote yes on every school budget and you would be outraged about what is happening in education today.

This morning, I went to school. Notice I say “I went to school”, not “I went to work”. I rarely say, “I went/go to work”. I go to school. I go to school because I am a learner. I learn something new every day. I go to school, where I am a teacher, a learner, a helper, a coach, a guide, a supporter, a role model, a symbol of security and yes, a mother. I help my children to learn. And yes, they are my children. I never say, “They are my students”. They are my children. From the moment they enter my classroom, they are my children… even when they come back 20 years later. They are my kids. I help them, love them, guide them, coach them, cheer them, encourage them, and correct them. They are my children.

Today, in our classroom, we learned about the importance of water on our planet, we learned how to access information online (Thanks Jill!), we learned about fractions and symmetry, we learned about being kind to each other, we learned to accept differences and we learned about being 6. Today, we read, we wrote, we danced and we played. We learned. Today, 16 of 18 students that came to school today, chose “Lunch Bunch” (Lunch with me) over any other prize on the cart or in the room. Today, we put on Pharell Williams and danced for 4 and half minutes straight to “Happy” just because we are kids. Today we had “free time” During that time, 2 of my boys wrote a story because “We are GREAT writers”, my ELL student practiced telling time, my speech student practiced her sounds with my phonics cards and other students either “played school” or read to each other. Today we were a family.

My children are more than a score. They are more than a number on a test. They are more than what a test can evaluate. Honestly, I could care less if they can “close read” or “use multiple strategies to add or subtract”. I am growing people here. What teachers do is so complex; it cannot be quantified into a number. Neither can people, especially children.

At the end of every day, I take my “walkers” to their parents and then walk back down the hall to my bus line. I am always in awe of the amount of children coming down the hall. There are literally hundreds of them. Usually there are less than 50 adults to monitor what is happening. Children are laughing and happy. Parents have entrusted their children to us. It is awe-inspiring. THEY ENTRUSTED THEIR BABIES TO US. And those babies are growing. They may not be growing as fast or in the way NYS would like them to, but they ARE GROWING. It is amazing. We are growing people. Not numbers. Not test scores. Not data points. If that is not humbling, then I don’t know what is.