I'm tired of justifying myself and the reasons why education reform policies are robbing my kids of having a meaningful learning experience. I'm tired of hearing that we need to prepare our students so they can compete in a global economy. My favorite excuse I hear to as why there is so much testing and why we need the no common sense state standards is we need to show students have career readiness. Ugh my children are 5 and 7 they don't want to compete globally and are not thinking about what career they want. All they want to do is discover, play and create isn't that what learning really is?
I am a teacher and I miss the days when I could take a few days to be creative. My students used to love writing their own stories using Chris Van Allsberg’s, The Mysteries of Harris Burdick, or creating a newspaper after we read a novel. Friday, I want my students to work in groups to create a visual of the farm Lennie and George want to purchase in, Of Mice and Men. But if they do not complete the Bloom’s taxonomy of questions related to chapter readings, there will be no creativity. A student told me this is the first year she hates school. I told her to write to Governor Cuomo and tell him why. Creativity fosters learning in a different way that is so important.
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