I’ll probably catch flack for this but that rarely stops me from speaking my mind. I tweeted about an experience I had recently where I gave an exam and the average score was 40%. I was floored because in my mind I had spent a few weeks designing an incredibly engaging unit where I combined non-fiction science texts with a significant amount of project based learning. I had included videos, incorporated a choice board and gave my kids plenty of time to work talk about ideas and questions they had.
So as you can imagine, that 40% average score on the exam shook me a bit. While I realize there are absolutely different ways to assess, I live in a world that holds me accountable for “more traditional” ways aka, standardized tests when looking at how my kids are performing. Do I like it? Absolutely not. I feel we’ve gone nuts over-assessing kids with standardized tests once a year, while being pushed to differentiate and individualize instruction the rest of the year (min-rant over). So I was far from happy about the overall scores on the more standardized portion of the assessment.
Confession- I did get defensive initially. VERY. I’ve been an educator both in and out of elementary classrooms for almost 20 years. I know what I’m doing. I did this last year and my kids thrived. Clearly these kids didn’t study enough. Clearly their parents weren’t supporting them as much as I thought they should. Clearly it isn’t me. Or is it?
I coached teachers for years as head of the ELA department. I’ve said in the past that veteran teachers were the most difficult to coach. Why? Because we do have expertise. We do know what we’re doing. We don’t want other people telling us how to teach. And we sometimes find it more difficult to reflect on our practices. Somehow, I suddenly realized I was reacting much like some of my most difficult cases in past coaching scenarios. I was being defensive because it was easier to blame the kids than to look critically at my approach.
I may know what I’m doing. I absolutely know my content. I know how to engage kids. But I don’t know every child, every year. My demographic this year is extremely different. Many of my students speak English as a second language. Many have an IEP. Many did not score as well as last year’s group on state exams. They’re not the issue. My inability and unwillingness to change my practice to fit this new group of blossoming individuals definitely is. So, I’m carrying this forward. I’m writing to remind myself. I’m writing to hold myself accountable. I’m writing to remember not to be that inflexible teacher stuck on using my “perfect” methods, but instead the teacher that these kids need, right now.
