This is a time when your new normal can REALLY make a difference!!!
In education this is a scary time in uncharted territory! For the first time school districts are making things up as they go. For the first time since I’ve started teaching STANDARDIZED TESTS have been CANCELLED in most (if not all) states! For the first time ALL students and teachers are at home. How can we make sense of all this??? Well, if for the first time standardized tests aren’t the end goal, then can we make our kids real needs the end goal? This means we can make THE WHOLE CHILD then end goal. Will this in the long run lead us to smarter and more confident students?
This is your chance to go back to being the teacher you know you are deep down in your heart!
For the last handful of years, teachers have been so stressed about teaching kids to pass these tests, stressed about performing for their evaluations, and stressed about meeting all the demands of the normal daily grind. All of that is out the door now! We do not need to stress about any of those things. So now is the time to just focus on WHAT IS BEST FOR KIDS! Let’s get this right for our kids!
What is best for kids???
For years schools have been saying they were focused on “what’s best for kids”, but when we really stop to think about what we were focused on (test scores, achievements, being the best at everything, teaching how to take a test rather than how to be a good person, moving on and moving on and moving on etc.) it makes us stop and think…were those things really “best for kids”?
Think of all the things you wished you had time for: teaching kids to believe in themselves, how to be a good person, kindness over achievements, the list goes on. No matter what grade you teach, there are skills that you wish you could simmer until they are made concrete…this is the year we can do this! In primary grades, we have rushed them to know more and move on so quickly, that the foundational skills haven’t really become cognitively concrete. They simply remember things and move on. But if they are not truly mastering the skill, they will not hold it for years to come. This is a major stressor in kids. They are stressed and they don’t even know what stress is!
Now is your chance to make a change! Make a difference in the social emotional wellness of our students. Develop the skills that are appropriate for the kids you teach! Help them to learn how to be a good person and to care about what is most important. Help them to now that kindness always wins. This is your chance to make your “classroom” look however you want it to look. YOU KNOW WHAT IS BEST FOR KIDS! NOW YOU CAN DO IT!!! Did you ever think this day would come, when you could teach what really matters!!! I don’t know about you, but this makes me giddy!
Let’s teach what REALLY matters!
What is really best for kids? Do it!!!! Do it from home! Help kids learn to love learning again! Teach what matters, teach what is developmentally appropriate, and for the first time EVER let’s put the kids first instead of the tests! This could change EVERYTHING in education!
I am sure that you are as excited as I am for this turning point in education. I have been waiting and waiting for something to happen to make everyone realize what is really important. Here on this blog, I will be discussing what kids in Early Childhood (grades prek-3) REALLY need: confidence, sense of self-worth, empathy and manners, sensory experiences, gross and fine motor, development of executive function skills, inquiry and discovery, play based learning, songs, phonemic awareness, and love! I would love to hear what all of my fellow educators think of all this! Please comment below and share your thoughts and feelings!
Teachers, I feel you! I know you are sad, I know you are afraid of the unknown, I know that you miss your kids! But think of this as your new normal. We many not go back to school as we know it this year, or ever for that matter. LET’S SHOW EVERYONE OUT THERE HOW TO BE THEIR DIFFERENCE!
Thanks for sharing Erin! I really enjoyed reading this blog. I am with you 100%. Even though this is my first year teaching, I’ve been around long enough (with my own children) to know how much I hate standardized tests. I went back to school at a later age and got into elementary school teaching because I wanted to make a difference. I wanted to make learning fun for these kids and I wanted to teach to the whole child! I want kids in my class to know how much I care about them, how special they are, and that kindness and love always win! I want them to be able to look at themselves in the mirror and know that they should be proud of who they are, where they came from, what they look like, and where they’re going in life. I want to celebrate our differences and make school as much about students’ social and emotional well-being, as it is about their academic achievement. Thanks for sharing your thoughts and a “new normal.”
You are spot on!