Is anybody out there?
"Virginia youngsters encounter SOL exams for the first time in third grade, and it's a pile-on. No other elementary grade undergoes four exams, and no other students are tested on cumulative knowledge as third-graders are. They must recall history and science facts gathered from kindergarten on. Every other grade is tested solely on the knowledge gained that particular year."
Testing third graders like we do goes against EVERYTHING in which I professionally believe and understand. If test proponents could see what a third grade class looks like on the first day of school, maybe they'd begin to understand my fury. These are worldly innocent children; ego-centric and self-absorbed; yet delightful, creative and unique. That's the way it is with children this age, as it has always been. For some reason, we, as a society, have deemed third grade as THE YEAR OF RECKONING in life. We demand that these innocent souls shed their innocence and dress-up in adult clothing. We are demanding more, pound-for-pound, of our eight and nine year-olds than we are of grown adults in high-pressured work environments. It makes me furious and makes me more determined to be a buffer, one who interprets this alien world to and creates a safety zone for these wonderful people.
But even that's getting harder and harder to do.
Make no mistake about it. Third grade teachers are feeling piled-onto as well. Then again, all teachers are under assault from all sides right now. These attacks (teacher contracts, accountability, evaluations, test scores, salary, pensions, pointless mandates, etc) are brain-numbing, maddening, and just plain sad.
We teach for the children. We choose to care.
Many times, I think the rest of the world operates under a different broad understanding, "We CHOSE to care."
Thom Ryder
http://www.roanoke.com/editorials/wb/304352
No comments:
Post a Comment