I have been mulling over a few things since first, I became pregnant, and secondly, since school has started back and I've been in a real funk over it- especially over the last few weeks. While I absolutely love my job as a reading specialist, and will fully abide by and uphold what I'm told to do with children, deep down in my heart, I feel like we are robbing children of their childhood experiences by pushing way too hard. By pushing too hard, I believe we are setting our children up for failure- and failure is what I work with all day long. These children are deemed 'at-risk' because they have failed to meet a benchmark but has it ever occurred to anyone that not all children learn and progress at the same rate? Has no one thought that maybe, just maybe, we're asking too much of kindergarten students when we ask them to spout out Very Important Points from a book they've read? In the book Literate Kindergarten, author Susan Kempton describes kindergarten as a 'watered-down first grade where academic pressures squelch creativity and play.' After having taught kindergarten, I wholly agree with her. We are asking students to read, read, read while neglecting basic skills such as letter sound recognition (let alone social skills, the arts, and dramatic play which I'll get to shortly). Then these children move to first grade where they may be reading some, but have no idea what sounds the letters make. Where are we going wrong? I ask myself this question every single day when faced with the weary eyes of 6 year olds who have had information shoved down their throats just to pass them along- and here they sit with me as failures because we haven't taken the TIME to let them be CHILDREN. By the time our students are 8 and 9 years old, they are expected to pass an incredibly difficult standardized test that measures, in my opinion, absolutely nothing other than whether or not they test well. After having worked in the testing grades, it is a nauseating sight to watch some of these children fail a test after working hard all year. Let's waste our time doing test prep for hours on end instead of truly engaging children in an atmosphere of discovery where they learn to problem solve and use their reasoning skills. I don't think preparing children for an EOG teaches these lifelong skills. And then there are the teachers- the classroom teachers who are in the trenches day in and day out teaching their hearts away. To them, I am deeply appreciative. After having stepped away from the classroom, I see more clearly now how mentally exhausting and frustrating it is to teach. Today I sat in the presence of 5 outstanding young teachers who are already worn down from the constant expectations placed on themselves and their students. They work long hours, plan for weeks in advance, and have the heart and soul to help those children learn but are stifled by the endless requirements. My heart breaks for these gals . . .
And here's where I REALLY get fired up. I am sick, SICK of seeing classrooms devoid of creative art pieces, drawings the children have created, classrooms where children sit quietly for hours doing workbook pages or reading quietly at their seats. Gone are the days of children singing songs, rhyming and clapping, and exploring their world. Children are rushed in and out of art and music classes without time to relish in the excitement of learning a new song or creating a fine art piece. And foreign language- where is that? If we're so hot-to-trot to prepare these children for the 21st century, why are we not providing them with foreign language experiences at a young age when they're most apt to learn it quickly?? While teaching kindergarten, I came to tears one afternoon while talking to a colleague. I had just been told that I was not permitted to show my students a movie at Christmas time- The Polar Express. Not only is it my favorite movie, it is completely appropriate for five year olds- complete with pajamas and hot chocolate. My colleague couldn't understand why I was upset- showing that movie interrupted valuable teaching time and wasn't of real benefit to my students. I was floored. I ended up being able to show the movie with two stipulations. 1) they could only watch 20 minute segments each day and 2) they had to complete a strategy after each viewing to assess their comprehension of the movie. Guess what folks, I did neither. We watched half one day, and the rest the next day. THEY ARE FIVE YEARS OLD.
Which brings me to my last point here as I now see most everything through the new lense of a parent-to-be. I ask myself daily "Would I want my child receiving this same education?" The answer has clearly become no. It isn't that there aren't excellent teachers in our schools- in fact there are a myriad of wonderful teachers who work themselves to death to make learning fun but I personally believe there is a better way. Chris and I have been discussing other options for Webb and are looking into visiting a few places to see what they have to offer. I now see why my parents made other choices for my sister and me and I'm forever grateful to them for giving us an outstanding education where we both thrived, were challenged, and were taught how to think. While this may appear to some as an elitist way of thinking, I see it as doing what is best for my child after having spent 6 years watching a system fail children. I am very passionate about my feelings and can't be swayed into thinking any differently. I've tried- I've tried to believe in our system but year after year, I become more disappointed.
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