Checking the Box

I am very lucky! I work with 15 teachers who have helped to create a World of Learning that offers opportunities for Small and Rural School Districts to provide World Language offerings that would otherwise not be possible. It gives me hope.

We have branched out to offer other courses so learners whose districts can’t offer two sections of courses like Calculus or Chemistry for Career and Tech Center kids - CAN. It is good and worthy work. Sometimes I wish all schools were able to be as flexible and offer learners what they need and are interested in. Check out what we offer HERE.

It makes me sad, but schools have scaled, like businesses. We have mega-elementary schools and district complexes. It is efficient. We have boxes to check - attendance, test scores, career readiness! The PA Future Ready Index has made some of those boxes a little more meaningful, yet they still don’t address a whole child. We know it and we just keep going. Hoping the one little change we make in a child's’ life will matter. We close our doors and check off the boxes. I am complicit in the machine - the bureaucracy. Or am I?

Today I spoke with a Japanese teacher and her college supervisor. She is working on her Intern Certificate. She has courage. She wants to keep making a difference. Our meeting was a check of the box for her certification. Our conversations was not! We talked about  deep things - connecting to students.

I am lucky to talk to caring teachers, a lot. I worked with teachers in a professional learning experience where we talked about what jobs would look like for the learners we work with. We talked about building relationships. We talked about the most recent school shooting. We talked about how teachers deal with these incidents and how some don’t. I wonder if we are preparing our young people for the future?

I read this article on Ed Surge. Growth can be measured in many ways. What ways matter the most?

The PSSA - the NWEA, Dibbles, Iowa, Stanford-Binet! Fake news. Real news. Twitter. Facebook. SnapChat. Google. Microsoft. Urban food deserts. Rural white poor. Urban people of color. Poor. Trying Harder. These poor and left behind people, they have Grit! Immigrants. Native Americans. Africa. The Middle East. World News. Local News. Music. Movie Stars. Presidents.  

 

I get sad when I think that we have let so many young people down. Test scores will ebb and flow. Young people are standing up. The measures we use will come and go. Empowering each other lasts forever. 

I am glad to work with such amazing people who care about learners in the World of Learning at IU8. Check out what we offer.