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Friday, January 24, 2014

Missing the Heart...An Educational Tragedy

I am a middle school teacher. That very statement often solicits reactions of both sympathy and blessings, and I am always happy to accept the latter, but most people have it wrong.

Middle school rocks. And we, the adults in charge of shepherding our kids through it, are blowing it. Big time. If we don't fix it, and soon, the results will be tragic. The school is on fire and it seems like we're busy sharpening pencils for high stakes exams.

Middle school students are caught in developmental purgatory. They are richly diverse...culturally, academically, socially, physically, emotionally and socioeconomically. And most are simply hoping to make it through...to high school...to college...to some sort of life that everyone tells them is about to start.

It's no secret that our schools are in crisis. We are losing our kids, because in trying to solve the equation for success, we miss the mark...their hearts...their passion...and it's resulting in a lack of proficiency. And it's that lack of passion, not proficiency, that is plaguing our kids.

Kids haven't changed, but the world has. From birth, we have empowered kids...encouraged them to ask questions, to speak their minds and to think for themselves. Why should we be surprised that the factory model and curriculum canon no longer work?

In our schools' defense, I acknowledge that students come to us, often with significant gaps in their skill sets. And poverty impacts student achievement in ways that most will never understand. 

Scaffolded skills are key to higher achievement levels. But, in the quest for students' academic gain, we've lost sight of students' passion and their hearts.

And they're checking out. Big time. And if they don't care, they won't achieve. Period.

Most states have adopted the Common Core State Standards and it's easy to understand why.



There's a sense of desperation tied to raising student achievement and the feds are betting the house on these national standards. 

Regardless of what people think of the CCSS, what's most important is that we ignite or reignite students' passion and inspire them to pursue lifelong learning.

If they're engaged, they'll achieve. But if they could care less, we're doomed.

I'm only one person. So is every other teacher. There's so much beyond our control, but for the most part, we can control what happens within  the walls of our own classrooms. The change starts with us.
  • Middle school curriculum, on its own, will never make or break anyone. Start with relationships. Continue to build relationships with kids. Encourage and practice kindness and empathy. Lead by example. 
  • Know their interests. Share their excitement. For example, achieving a new level on a video game may not seem like a lot, but if we compare it to a milestone we've been trying to reach and it's easy to see...everything is relative.
  • I tell my students that there is so much more to them than how they perform in any given classroom. Know who they are and what makes their heart pound, for better or for worse.
  • Ask their opinion and then, let them share that opinion. Bring current events into the classroom.  Let them bring current events into the classroom. You'll find out quickly where their interests lie. My middle school students will be voting soon. And they vote every day with their dollars. Knowledge is power; help them understand the power they do have and how to use it to their advantage.
  • Share our passions. Lead by example. Give them hope beyond the walls of your classroom. For example, I love to share my travel experiences with my students. They need to know that there is life beyond our school. They have choices and new chances every day. We all do. Use them for good.
  • Build curricula around students' interests and inquiry whenever possible. The English Language Arts standards are ideal for this. Do whatever has to be done to make curriculum relevant to students' interests and useful for their life skills, not just their test taking skills. They need to find value in what they learn. Doing it because I said so doesn't work. It rarely did and it still won't. Sometimes standards can seem obscure and their only value lies in making the next level more accessible. Acknowledge it for the stepping stone that it is and move on.
  • No one likes to fail. Regardless of how a student presents, everyone wants to be successful. Unfortunately, in many schools, for many students, academic success is tied to issues related to compliance, like homework. Standard proficiency is one thing, but punishment is another. Consider alternate paths to demonstrating proficiency. If a student is a caregiver, is hungry, neglected or abused, homework understandably lies at the bottom of the priority list. Knowing our kids helps us to know that and act accordingly.
  • Most importantly, schools need to remember that students are still kids. They need to move. They need to talk. They need to play. Some experience stress and worries that no child should ever encounter. There are multiple resources online dealing with classroom activities that honor and respond to the needs of middle school students. Their heads won't work unless their hearts do. Sometimes, we're all they have.



Teaching is a gift and a blessing I have been honored to have. But school systems, in their desperate quest for higher student achievement, are missing the mark.

Schools are losing their kids. And they're losing good teachers who want nothing more than to inspire their students to achieve and to become lifelong learners. Something has to give, because if we continue on this trajectory, we risk alienating an entire generation, inadvertently encouraging illiteracy and apathy.

And that would be tragedy of catastrophic proportions.



27 comments:

  1. Thank you for this post. It's a beautiful bit of inspiration (tinged with sadness of possible loss, of course) and it reminds me that being part of networks of folks like you is what keeps the creative thoughts flowing in my own classroom.
    Kevin

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    1. Kevin, thank you so much for the feedback. I am continually inspired by other educators who are making a difference in their students' lives, as well as educational gains. The whole child reaps the benefits, not just their head. Thanks again!

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  2. WOW!!! As the mom of a 3rd grader and Kindergartner, I see how the common core is impacting the younger ones. I am not completely opposed to the standards but there is a lot of anxiety at the 3rd grade level and I find that sad. I have written about this a bit on my blog too but from a parents perspective. I can't even complain because my kids are doing just fine academically...it's their spirit I worry about and you captured that!

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    1. Hi Tara,
      Thank you so much for visiting and for your feedback. To think that 3rd graders are faced with anxiety over testing breaks my heart. We are quickly losing sight of the fact that these children are children and we're beating them down with tasks that may not even be developmentally appropriate. Children learn through play and modeling and practice. We're seeing the short term results of our missteps now. I shudder to see the long-term results. Thank you for stopping by and for your feedback, Tara. :-)

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    1. Thank you, Artist. Please feel free to share via your social media networks. I know there are many of us who agree. :-) Please come back again.

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  4. Hear, Hear! So very true at all stages of education

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    1. Thank you, Mary. Please feel free to share via your social media networks. I know there are many of us who agree. :-) Please come back again.

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  5. Yes to all of this!

    (And bless you - JH is a special age that needs special teachers!!)

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    1. Thank you, Anna Belle, for your visit and for the blessings. I will happily accept both. Please feel free to share this post via your social media networks. I know there are many of us who agree. :-) Please come back again.

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  6. I have to say that your students are very lucky to have a teacher who cares so much. I have to completely agree and it's so sad what is happening today.

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    1. Momma Lew, thank you so much for your kind words. It breaks my heart to see what happens and every year, teachers' experience and wisdom plays a smaller and smaller role. The personal, creative touch and the relationships are being edged out by test data. And it's starting at younger and younger ages. We're seeing the short term results of our missteps now. I shudder to see the long-term results. Thank you for stopping by and for your feedback. :-)

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  7. I have to agree. We are harping so much about tests and forgot about the actual learning. The love of reading, and learning, and being creative.

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    1. Kerry, you're exactly right. The personal, creative touch and the relationships are being edged out by test data. And it's starting at younger and younger ages. We see young elementary age students suffering from text anxiety. That is simply wrong and there is no excuse. We're seeing the short term results of our missteps now. I shudder to see the long-term results.

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  8. Beautifully written and very inspiring. I am a primary teacher by profession, but I currently stay home with my children. Now my professional boat is a bit different in that I never taught above 2nd grade and there are different issues with CCSS, etc in that subset of our field. That said, I completely agree that we would all be doing our children better by remembering that every one of them is a whole lot more than a set of answers on a test. Also, I am continually disheartened by the focus on where our public schools are lacking while there is little to no focus whatsoever on what is going right. I will not concede that we are failing our students. We are not. We can do better, no doubt, but to say we are failing them is one of the grossest insults to those of us that have worked and continue to work so hard to help our students achieve successes. Further, it's an insult to the students too. If they keep hearing the media and society saying that the school systems are failing them, could it not potentially become a self-fulfilling prophecy? Legislators, parents, and community leaders have got to come together with the experts in the field, teachers and school administrators, to make better decisions for the future of public education. And maybe call me naive, but I believe we can. <3

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    1. Hi Holly,
      Thank you so much for this wonderful feedback. You're not naïve...if you are, there's many of us who fit the bill. When I speak with teachers, I rarely find one supportive of where we are headed. Districts are clamoring to close the gap created by poverty. What they fail to recognize is that the answer lies in relationships and thoughtfully, developmentally relevant curriculum that inspire our kids to learn. Thank you again for stopping by. Please visit again soon. :-) It's so nice to connect with a fellow educator.

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  9. Very true indeed. I often feel I gave up on the educational system too soon but I was so dishearten in the direction it was going.

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    1. Hi, Christine,
      I understand. It's hard to support something that you feel is headed in the wrong direction. Hopefully soon, schools will have the power to take the wheel instead of watch this car go off into the ditch. Thank you so much for stopping by. Please visit again soon and if you ever see a post with which you agree, please share among your social networks. Thank so much! Cheers!

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  10. Thank you for this. I am mom to two bright, utterly disengaged learners. My son is now 20 and I can easily trace his dislike of school to 6th grade. As a former PTA board member I've seen many great educators working hard to reach the kids, and also saw one of the best teachers I've ever known quit teaching because of the focus (starting in 3rd grade in our state) on standardized tests. While my children may be successful in that they've graduated from high school, they have no love of learning for the joy of it, as hard as I tried to model and reinforce that idea. I hold myself equally liable, as their mother, but I wish I'd had schooling options for them that were supportive of this viewpoint instead of feeling I was always working against teachers and administrators.
    Shared your post on Facebook :) Thank you again!

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    1. Thank you, Jery, for your feedback. It makes me sad to hear of the results school has had on your children. Teachers have an enormous responsibility to help our kids become academically proficient, but an even bigger responsibility to make sure they feel loved and wanted and inspired to learn. Hopefully, districts come to see that children must be stimulated in heart as well as in mind. If they don't, in sacrificing their hearts, they may lose the rest of them in the process. Kids may do well in spite of what we do, and that doesn't sound like so much of a win, when you consider what will be lost in the long run. Thank you, again, for your feedback and for sharing. :-)

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  11. This is a fantastic post. I absolutely love teachers. I loved them when I was a kid in school, a young adult in college and as a mother. You all have so much going on and you are constantly fighting an uphill better. I always try to find ways to thank my daughter's teachers (She's in special ed and due to a severe traumatic brain injury- she has a lot of behavioral issues that impede her learning but she's getting there. Thanks to the fact her teachers have never given up!) because you have to teach, fight administration, and everything else in between.

    You are OBVIOUSLY a fantastic teacher who truly cares!

    *sharing*

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    1. Thank you, Jaime, for your wonderful feedback. We do it because we love our kids. Teaching is a gift that so few of us will ever experience. We have an enormous responsibility to help our kids become academically proficient, but an even bigger responsibility to make sure they feel loved and wanted and inspired to learn. Hopefully, districts come to see that children must be stimulated in heart as well as in mind. If they don't, in sacrificing their hearts, they may lose the rest of them in the process. Thank you, again, for your feedback and for sharing. :-)

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  12. Thanks for sharing at the Weekend Blog Block Party! Stop by Friday to see if you were featured.

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  13. You sounds like an amazing teacher! I teach h.s. English and I agree with much of what you said (although high schoolers are a slightly different breed!). It's not w/o its challenges, but I love my job. There is something about those moments when the kids 'get' it and you connect with them. It's all about the connections, IMO. Sidenote- our school (a private Christian school) voted down the CCSS - we are not adopting them. Hoping this will give us the time to really invest in our kids! (Stopping by from SITS FB group!)

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    1. Thanks so much for your kind comments, Katie! Older high school students are a bit different, but still kids, nonetheless. You're so right...it's all about the connections. It sounds like you're a wonderful teacher yourself! Thanks again for stopping by and thanks so much for your feedback!

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