First of all, I want to thank Howard Payne University for preparing me for teaching. Without their help, I think I would have been UTTERLY lost teaching a tested subject my first year out of college.
When I arrived at school in August - they raved and raved about how awesome of a teacher they had before I arrived so already...I was putting an immense amount of pressure of myself. I felt like I needed to prove myself because I was a first year teacher and I knew that I had the power to be better - to do better.
Teaching a tested subject is no walk in the park. There are no "free days" in class. There is no movie watching. There is no "I feel so comfortable leaving my class in the hands of a substitute" - every single day we were learning with a purpose. Some days, as a teacher, I was on my A game...my students were understanding what I was teaching, it was easy and we were having fun. Other times, we would be talking about Vietnam, during the midst of the Cold War, and the purpose for any of those things to be happening during our history as a country. I would look into my students lost faces and say, "okay, let's go over this again."
And you know what? Sometimes, my students didn't understand anything I was saying. We spend 30 days on the Cold War when we were supposed to spend about 15. That may make me a terrible teacher and planner...but Board of Education...how am I supposed to only spend 3 weeks on complete foreign concepts to my students. Especially when that time period spans more than like 40 years???? HELLOOOOO?
I should probably say that I am not against testing. Let me repeat, I am not against testing. However, how come one test, on one day, determines my students futures? How does one test tell you that my students have learned one concept (TEKS) compared to another concept (TEKS)? How do my Spanish speaking students illustrate to you that they know something about American History in a language that they have not conquered themselves.
I like testing, y'all. I like accountability. I like to know, just as the next teacher, what my students have learned from someone that is unbiased. HOWEVER, why can't we separate this test? Why can't my students take one STAAR test per unit that has like 20 questions? Wouldn't that be more sufficient to know if I'm actually doing my job? (By the way, I'm doing my job and I don't need your testing to validate that.) Wouldn't it be more suffiencient to have more than one test that was maybe spread across the entire school year? That way...if my students didn't do well on a concept, I could...I don't know...RETEACH IT?!?!?!
State of Texas, I really don't mean to offend you. I love education. I love teaching. I love students. I don't love the pressure you have put on my kids...I don't like the pressure you have put on my colleagues...I don't like not sleeping at night...I don't like waiting forever for results THAT MAY NOT HAVE BEEN GRADED CORRECTLY! I don't like that my students have to take these tests and that I have to actively monitor them like they are some sort of delinquients. LOLZ. We need to change the focus of education. I would love free reign in my classroom. I would love the ability to sit and talk about the Civil War for months on end because WE FOUGHT AGAINST OURSELVES. I would love the opportunity to sit and talk for months about the election coming up because NEWSFLASH, kids don't really understand what the heck is going on in our country.
I would like to say now that I have no answers. I have only been the product of state testing for one year. I don't have the experience that most teachers have. And I have no right to criticize something that I don't FULLY understand. However, I would like to see change. I would love to see someone step in and say, "hey, this isn't working. Let's take a few years and revamp." My kids would be okay with that and so would I. :)
In conclusion, I want to say how extremely proud of my kids this year. I set standards that I thought were appropriate for my students and they completely SURPASSED all my expectations. To any students, that may read this, I love you. You are going to do great things in your life. I can't wait to witness the greatness that will come from you. Thank you for rocking my world. :)
