"A mile wide and an inch deep" is my thought for the day.
I am a middle school teacher, ex-high school teacher, and ex-home school mom. I love learning and education. For fun sometimes, I dream up lessons and activities. I can't turn off that part of my brain. I think of activities when I am lying in bed in the middle of the night, at stoplights, and in the shower. I never "clock" out of my job. I think really, this means that I enjoy my job. I enjoy learning and helping others to learn, too.
All of that said, you can imagine how appalled I was to discover that the objective and goal for many subjects these days in public schools is not really for the students to learn. It isn't really about creating educated citizens, or producing life-long learners. It isn't really about teaching tolerance or diversity. In some cases, I don't even think that our current system is designed to prepare students for college. I hear all of these spouted in lip service daily. What is the purpose then? Babysitting? Status quo? No, the purpose is to have kids pass a standardized test that in turn merits federal dollars to perpetuate the cycle of a mediocre education at best. We (teachers and administrators) get to keep our jobs for training mediocrity.
How do I know it is mediocre? Well, because I have seen kids learning, asking good questions, knowing how and where to find the answers, and further more LOVING what they are doing. I have seen kids encouraged to play and use conflict resolution skills. I have witnessed connections being made academically between subjects and continuity between topics and ideas unfold. But, it wasn't in the public schools. The public schools seem disjointed. Teachers are unattached to their peers and there is little or no way to make the subjects go together as they naturally do. There is no way that as a new Social Studies teacher, I can have my kids read novels and poems in their reading class that coordinates with our country of focus. Different tests, different teachers, and different physical locations make that a joke.
As I am reading through the chapters on the US that I am to teach in the next 2 weeks (that is two weeks total for politics, history, geography, current events, and culture of the US), I realize it really isn't about retention but about regurgitation. The kids will have the same lesson over and over again for the rest of their academic careers but approached slightly differently by different texts and instructors. My assumption was that my job was to bring the curriculum alive and real. I thought of my position as a concierge for my subject. I imagined that I would foster a love and passion for whatever country we were asked to study. I had great ideas as I fantasized about all of the great things we could do with that mountain of information needed to get a handle on history, geography, culture, politics, and current events for the US. But, we have 2 weeks to do this in. That is 10 hours total for the entire US. The chapters in the book mention slavery in one sentence, but not the civil war. The entire seventh grade history lesson for the US doesn't mention the civil war. at.all. It gives two sentences to Native Americans. Ten hours, 30+ students in a tiny, room and our own country's entire existence. The message I get is, no time for love or fun or depth or understanding, just teach them the questions that will be on the test. Don't try to get fancy or spark enthusiasm. Shove it down their throats so they can spit it back up come TCAP time so that you get to keep your job.
I am a middle school teacher, ex-high school teacher, and ex-home school mom. I love learning and education. For fun sometimes, I dream up lessons and activities. I can't turn off that part of my brain. I think of activities when I am lying in bed in the middle of the night, at stoplights, and in the shower. I never "clock" out of my job. I think really, this means that I enjoy my job. I enjoy learning and helping others to learn, too.
All of that said, you can imagine how appalled I was to discover that the objective and goal for many subjects these days in public schools is not really for the students to learn. It isn't really about creating educated citizens, or producing life-long learners. It isn't really about teaching tolerance or diversity. In some cases, I don't even think that our current system is designed to prepare students for college. I hear all of these spouted in lip service daily. What is the purpose then? Babysitting? Status quo? No, the purpose is to have kids pass a standardized test that in turn merits federal dollars to perpetuate the cycle of a mediocre education at best. We (teachers and administrators) get to keep our jobs for training mediocrity.
How do I know it is mediocre? Well, because I have seen kids learning, asking good questions, knowing how and where to find the answers, and further more LOVING what they are doing. I have seen kids encouraged to play and use conflict resolution skills. I have witnessed connections being made academically between subjects and continuity between topics and ideas unfold. But, it wasn't in the public schools. The public schools seem disjointed. Teachers are unattached to their peers and there is little or no way to make the subjects go together as they naturally do. There is no way that as a new Social Studies teacher, I can have my kids read novels and poems in their reading class that coordinates with our country of focus. Different tests, different teachers, and different physical locations make that a joke.
As I am reading through the chapters on the US that I am to teach in the next 2 weeks (that is two weeks total for politics, history, geography, current events, and culture of the US), I realize it really isn't about retention but about regurgitation. The kids will have the same lesson over and over again for the rest of their academic careers but approached slightly differently by different texts and instructors. My assumption was that my job was to bring the curriculum alive and real. I thought of my position as a concierge for my subject. I imagined that I would foster a love and passion for whatever country we were asked to study. I had great ideas as I fantasized about all of the great things we could do with that mountain of information needed to get a handle on history, geography, culture, politics, and current events for the US. But, we have 2 weeks to do this in. That is 10 hours total for the entire US. The chapters in the book mention slavery in one sentence, but not the civil war. The entire seventh grade history lesson for the US doesn't mention the civil war. at.all. It gives two sentences to Native Americans. Ten hours, 30+ students in a tiny, room and our own country's entire existence. The message I get is, no time for love or fun or depth or understanding, just teach them the questions that will be on the test. Don't try to get fancy or spark enthusiasm. Shove it down their throats so they can spit it back up come TCAP time so that you get to keep your job.
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