First, let me address my feelings of “teaching to the test” which I believe is the question being posted for this discussion. I have never taught a core subject, however I believe that every teacher is responsible for teaching literacy, math, history and science. These main areas are recurring subjects that students will run into everyday of their professional lives, long after our time with them is done. According to a study done at Northeastern University, 94% of all workers use some sort of math in their daily jobs (Lee, 2020). We can all tell that to our students the next time they ask, “when am I ever going to use this?” For the other 6%, they will still utilize the problem solving, critical thinking and patience that math forces all of us to practice.
I also believe that no matter the content, you can always find a way to implement strategies that fall in line with the core subjects and crosswalk those standards into your own content. Although, on the transverse side of that, I believe that teaching to the test does not leave a lot of time to reteach content that students missed, nor does it leave time to go above and beyond with creatively crafting lessons that are engaging and FUN! There are so many missed opportunities to have conversations with students about current events because administrators are continually putting deadlines on teachers to ensure they have covered all of the material, up to a specified unit, by testing day. I have always believed that we miss out on so many chances to cover the real world situations that are happening and make learning applicable because we have to take days to hop on Khan Academy, so we can teach kids how to outsmart the test. Hear me out, I am not opposed to standards because they ensure that each student has a level playing field upon entering college. However, when does the standardized test give educators the chance to truly utilize what Bloom’s Taxonomy says are the ultimate examples of mastery? Getting to those higher levels of application, analysis, evaluation and creation takes time to dive in and let students ruminate on the information and demonstrate what they’ve learned in the higher orders (McDaniel, 2020). Over the years, I think the most stressed out teachers that I have come into contact with are the math and English teachers because they are always so worried about time and making sure they squeeze everything in. It’s like the kids are on a one-way autobahn and if they have questions, they need to either come in on their own time or they are left twisting in the wind. That my fellow classmates is BULLSNOT! These are also the teachers that are usually anti-pep rallies and assemblies because they are on such a time crunch and let’s face it those things are what create culture in a school. These educators also believe that they are the only content a student has in their day and overloads with homework because they have to get all of the content in. I mention this in nearly every post, but it is so important that students feel safe and comfortable at school, otherwise all of our efforts fall by the wayside. With that, we are now being forced to teach students content that parents should be teaching and enforcing at home. Within the last couple of years, we have started to implement the social-emotional learning (SEL) curriculum, where we literally teach kids how to be a human being and progressive member of society. SEL is separated into five competencies: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision making (Gunn, 2019).
In reality, I am on the fence and feel as a professional educator, we need to be both for and against this issue which is the internal struggle of our education system. We need to promote standardized education and achievement within the standards, but to use our lessons, unit summative assessments as study guides to make our state report cards shine at the expense of truly educating our students is the timeless unanswered question. Like in my introduction post the great Mark Twain said “Don’t let your schooling interfere with your education,” I think Mark had it right many years ago.
References:
Gunn, J. (2019, June 03). Long-term Benefits of Social- Emotional Learning for At-Risk Students: Resilient Educator. Retrieved May 21, 2020, from https://resilienteducator.com/classroom-resources/sel-at-risk-students/
Lee, C. (2020, April 10). Wait 'Til You See Where a Math Degree Can Take You! Retrieved May 21, 2020, from https://www.trade-schools.net/articles/jobs-for-math-majors
McDaniel, R. (2020, March 25). Bloom's Taxonomy. Retrieved May 20, 2020, from https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/blooms-taxonomy/
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