Peter, this is such a fantastic piece! I have read and reread it throughout the day today, and you have beautifully explained my daily lived experience as an elementary school teacher. It has been such a long time since I've been in a teaching assignment where assessment wasn't emphasized (before NCLB), that I can hardly remember what it was like. I do remember reading more books and being more present in my students' academic lives because we had the time to teach the whole child, not just the test-taking part. Did we have tests? Yep! But we learned from them, made adjustments, and then moved on. The thing I miss the most was the slower pace.
"I want them to have five or ten minutes of ‘dead time’ at the end of my 85-minutes class—though we don’t always—after we have accomplished our goals for the day, so that they can talk to one another face to face and be high schoolers." Yes to this. And yes to everything else in this masterpiece, Peter. (And love the Jerry Maguire idea mentioned below by Adrian!) Definitely plan on sharing this with other colleagues and friends at my own school. Bless you.
Right!? I’m tempted to have me a Jerry Maguire moment, print this out in its entirety (footnotes included!), and place a copy in everyone’s mailbox for Monday. I want my entire building to read and talk about toxic pedagogy at our next staff meeting.
Never thought about how teachers are often being assessed on assessments! That’s such an interesting way of putting it, I really see the tension there...
Peter, this gave me Jerry Maguire vibes. I can see you at your keyboard channelling your interior ´help me help you! ‘ manifesto. You and Jerry are right.
Excellent piece! I’m so glad you approve of repeating grades. My Aunt, the amazing Roberta Schacht, developed her own program that truly was a beacon of light in our community. Our school district spanned a river and included five distinct rural and small town communities. Much poverty, many latch-key and farm-working kids, many speaking French, Kennebec Mi’kmaq, Abenaki, or a patois of such. At the time there was no pre-assessment for Kindergarten. To address these issues she began Transitional First Grade, a year between kindergarten and first for kids who needed it. Many kids who went through the program ended up going to college, but that’s not how she measured success. When she saw one of her “kids” in passing, she always wanted to know if they were happy. She served our community this way from 1954 to 1987. Then a new administration cut the program, and she became a second grade teacher. That same year they cut her pension and laid off her husband before he could reach retirement age and collect his pension. Needless to say, retention and test scores in the community took a nose dive. Needless to say, I am not a fan of modern school administration, and I remain a huge fan of giving kids extra time, even extra whole years, to be nurtured and taught if they need it.
I feel vindicated. I was lucky enough to teach in the Humanities, which, in South Carolina was basically ignored by the data driven administrators who were still reeling from the spanking the Soviet Union gave us in 1957 with Sputnik.
I was able to have a student centered classroom, rather than a data driven one.
Had I been a math or science teacher ( or even Language Arts) I would have abandoned teaching as a career after my first few years.
Not having to bow to the “gods of testing” freed me to teach. I integrated math and science into my Art classes and I firmly believe my methods worked.
This piece validates what I have believed all along—let teachers teach !!!
I came up with a rough count of the total number of students I taught—around 4,000 of them.
I am lucky enough to interact with many of them as adults. They assist me with Archaeology and Art projects in my area. I recently did an Archaeology workshop for a localhome-schooling network. We had participants from pre-K to high school levels. I had three former students assist me and could not have pulled it off without their help.
Peter, this is such a fantastic piece! I have read and reread it throughout the day today, and you have beautifully explained my daily lived experience as an elementary school teacher. It has been such a long time since I've been in a teaching assignment where assessment wasn't emphasized (before NCLB), that I can hardly remember what it was like. I do remember reading more books and being more present in my students' academic lives because we had the time to teach the whole child, not just the test-taking part. Did we have tests? Yep! But we learned from them, made adjustments, and then moved on. The thing I miss the most was the slower pace.
"I want them to have five or ten minutes of ‘dead time’ at the end of my 85-minutes class—though we don’t always—after we have accomplished our goals for the day, so that they can talk to one another face to face and be high schoolers." Yes to this. And yes to everything else in this masterpiece, Peter. (And love the Jerry Maguire idea mentioned below by Adrian!) Definitely plan on sharing this with other colleagues and friends at my own school. Bless you.
This should be required reading for every faculty development week from now until eternity. Bravo!
Right!? I’m tempted to have me a Jerry Maguire moment, print this out in its entirety (footnotes included!), and place a copy in everyone’s mailbox for Monday. I want my entire building to read and talk about toxic pedagogy at our next staff meeting.
Yes! Yes! But wait… Didn’t Jerry get fired?!?
🧐
Yep! Hopefully, my humanizing views don’t get me fired. 😜 Imagine getting fired after writing a mission statement that puts students first.
I’m afraid that might be the world we’re living in…
Danny—thank you for the read and response!
Never thought about how teachers are often being assessed on assessments! That’s such an interesting way of putting it, I really see the tension there...
Peter, this gave me Jerry Maguire vibes. I can see you at your keyboard channelling your interior ´help me help you! ‘ manifesto. You and Jerry are right.
Excellent piece! I’m so glad you approve of repeating grades. My Aunt, the amazing Roberta Schacht, developed her own program that truly was a beacon of light in our community. Our school district spanned a river and included five distinct rural and small town communities. Much poverty, many latch-key and farm-working kids, many speaking French, Kennebec Mi’kmaq, Abenaki, or a patois of such. At the time there was no pre-assessment for Kindergarten. To address these issues she began Transitional First Grade, a year between kindergarten and first for kids who needed it. Many kids who went through the program ended up going to college, but that’s not how she measured success. When she saw one of her “kids” in passing, she always wanted to know if they were happy. She served our community this way from 1954 to 1987. Then a new administration cut the program, and she became a second grade teacher. That same year they cut her pension and laid off her husband before he could reach retirement age and collect his pension. Needless to say, retention and test scores in the community took a nose dive. Needless to say, I am not a fan of modern school administration, and I remain a huge fan of giving kids extra time, even extra whole years, to be nurtured and taught if they need it.
I feel vindicated. I was lucky enough to teach in the Humanities, which, in South Carolina was basically ignored by the data driven administrators who were still reeling from the spanking the Soviet Union gave us in 1957 with Sputnik.
I was able to have a student centered classroom, rather than a data driven one.
Had I been a math or science teacher ( or even Language Arts) I would have abandoned teaching as a career after my first few years.
Not having to bow to the “gods of testing” freed me to teach. I integrated math and science into my Art classes and I firmly believe my methods worked.
This piece validates what I have believed all along—let teachers teach !!!
H. Jerry—no student-centered classroom fails to help young people develop. I’m sure you helped thousands of students during your career! Thank you!
I came up with a rough count of the total number of students I taught—around 4,000 of them.
I am lucky enough to interact with many of them as adults. They assist me with Archaeology and Art projects in my area. I recently did an Archaeology workshop for a localhome-schooling network. We had participants from pre-K to high school levels. I had three former students assist me and could not have pulled it off without their help.
Yes, indeed—student centered education pays off.
Ned--I didn't think of Jerry Maguire at all while I was writing it; It's been almost two decades: I'm going to have to watch this movie again!