This is just a test!

It seems as if the art of teaching has fallen off the face of this earth. I mean when I first went into teaching it was all about whole language. You had themes and spent time finding new innovative ways to explore the world with your students. You had freedom and the endless hours of prepping were fun purposeful. We included free time, imaginary play, trips. But now we are told to teach out of a text book. Read the italicized part. So why isn’t everyone a teacher then? Where has the art gone?



It is all about teaching to the test. With NCLB act it is pass or it is you’re a#$. So much pressure on the youth and so much pressure in us the teacher. When did testing become the end all and be all? What ever happened to observing the whole child? When did childhood get tossed out the window?


Next week my special inner city students take the state exams. Unlike when I taught in a regular public school, my charter school tells the kids to get good sleep and eat their breakfast. They have faith that the kids will rise to the challenge, that they will ace the test. They have faith that I have done my job everyday and thus my special education students are prepared and ready to rock the test. Unlike in the years past where we return in January to stop teaching and start teaching towards the test. Either way there is just too much riding on how a kid does one minute, one day on a test. When did the test become all that school was about? It is as you know JUST a test!


So tomorrow with granola bars in hand I will cross my fingers and feed my students and wish them good luck. What they lack to know is that their luck reflects who I am as a teacher. So I take a deep breath and realize that all of this, all of life for that matter is just a big test!