Tag: State Standards

Autonomy In the Classroom

Maybe it’s because I have written curriculum for two districts now and can see the overlap.  Maybe it’s because I have taught all three grades of middle school history.  Maybe it’s because I like to help people.  Maybe it’s because I like to fix things.

All these things are true statements and reasons I’ve always given up time in my own personal curriculum to help introduce students to the 8th grade curriculum.  For the first time this year I heard a dissenting opinion during a district meeting.  The teacher outlines a very well thought out opinion that they should not have to teach any material that pertains to the tested 8th grade curriculum.  It shocked me that someone would say such a thing, but the more I thought about it, the more the debate raged on in my head.

If it is acceptable to ask teachers in non-tested grades to teach some of the tested standards, in Texas it needs to start in the 6th grade.  There is not much overlap from grade to grade, but the conceptual vocabulary definitely can be taught.  When I taught 6th grade I focused on the US Government, the ideas of Revolution and Colonization, and really tried to get the students to understand how natural resources determine a civilization’s economy.  In 7th grade there is more overlap with 8th grade US History.  I usually tried to compare the colonization of Texas to the colonization of the United States, really focus on Westward Expansion, and taught the full 8th grade TEK driven Civil War and Reconstruction units.  The question I always asked myself was, “do I really believe that students are carrying over knowledge from 6th and 7th grade to 8th grade?”  My answer was usually no, but the more times the students are exposed to the material the more likely it is to stick in the heads.  This also wasn’t burdensome for my classroom because I was already teaching those concepts.

As I thought about what it would be like to not have taught those concepts, I think about the freedom that would give me.  I think about all the other ways I could have taken those concepts in my classroom.  It also made me wonder whether that is good for the student or good for the teacher.  We all prefer to teach the way we want and how we would like to teach it, but is that good for the student?  In some ways it would be to the student’s benefit because they could potentially have a more passionate teacher who is teaching things a way that they are super passionate about.  The case that was made to me was that the overlap is what non-tested classes should focus on.  In the case of history this means social studies skills, reading skills, and writing skills.  I’m completely on board with these things.  My counterpoint to this is that if the teacher is already going to be teaching something in their classroom, why not go ahead and help the teacher who will be tested some day?

I guess when it comes down to it, this debate is whether you think that it is valuable to be willing to give up a little of your own time for the betterment of your students or not.  I, personally, will always side on the side of the students and their needs not my own wants and desires.  I want my kids to understand as much material as they can in as easy a way as possible.  I want the teachers that come after me in line to have an easier time with their curriculum than I have with mine.  Does that always work?  No.  But I’d like to think I’m helping in some small way.

Hypothetical vs. Reality

I feel like compared to a lot of classrooms I was presented with during the teacher certification process I have done a really good job of innovating in the classroom and putting into practice a lot of the neat ideas that we are presented with at any number of conventions and seminars we attend as teachers.  I wouldn’t call my classroom cutting edge or overly progressive, but I would put myself further on that continuum than the old fashioned, sit and get methodology that we know to be archaic and outdated.  Recently though I’ve had a tough time marrying the big, new ideas of the people attempting to revolutionize teaching and the reality of the classroom that I have to teach in.

I see a lot of educational bloggers and authors talking about how we should do away with learning standards and how we should end the push for a common core. I would tend to agree with the idea that we for sure have too many standards and that standards tend to make us teach to the lowest common denominator, not push our students to achieve more.  I would love to be able to throw out all standards and just teach what is best for kids.  There’s only one problem with that, I would probably lose my job.  The administration at my school and even my district is among the most progressive group in the wonderful state of Texas.  On top of that, we are among the highest performing districts in the state as well.  With all that being said, if I didn’t teach the state standards to every kid in my class, my administration would find a way to get me out of teaching…and they would have a good reason to.  We can all debate the points of state standards, standardized testing, and how they should be reformed, but until that day happens I will be teaching the standards that are put in front of me by the state I teach in.  Knowing the content that you are expected to teach well enough to relate it to kids in ways they with receive it and have it change the way we look at the world is the essence of teaching.  I’m not in the business of making kids read a history textbook, take endless notes about the reading they did, and test them over it in by having them regurgitate exactly what I told them the previous few days.  I am in the business of teaching kids the big ideas of history, the cause and effect relationships in history, the amazing stories of epic people in history, and having the kids internalize history to make it real to them in modern times.  All this is done keeping the state standards in mind so that I can be above reproach with my administration and teach the kids the topics and ideas the state wants them to learn in my classroom.

As my brain wandered through these ideas, I started to imagine a school where the teachers all taught what they thought would be best for kids and completely disregarded the state standards.  I imagine the super-artistic teachers completely going off on tangents that have little or nothing to do with anything the kids need to cover during their tenure at our middle school.  I see the overly political teachers standing on their soap boxes going off on their political tangents that make them look like talk show host.  I see people that cover only a chapters worth of material in a school year because their belief is that the state got it all wrong.  Call my cynical if you like, but without some sort of standards we are doomed to the whims of people who have taken up the mantle to teach.  People tend to be fickle and that is exactly why we need some standards.  Not to mention if everyone taught their particular passion in life, the kids across the country would get vastly different educations which would be very difficult to measure in any quantifiable way.

The problem with the modern day idea of state standards is that we have seen them as the bar for teaching.  Our outdated attitude is “all kids need to know are the standards” and once they have those committed to memory our job is done.  Speaking as someone who has only been teaching for four years, the standards gave me legs to stand on my first years of teaching.  I luckily teach in a district that does not prescribe exactly what I need to teach and at what pace, I am given the ability to teach things how I see fit and how it would best make sense to my kids in my classroom.  We walk a fine line calling for teachers to forget the standards and completely teach with passion alone.  While I’m sure there would be wild creativity and imagination there will also be far less new teachers with much stamina in the teaching field.