But it's not something we didn't see coming. In fact, some teachers have been prophecying about a coming Math storm for several years. As administrators and educators continued to focus on Literacy, Math was pushed to the background. We heard the old cliché: if they can't read, they can't do anything else. But we know that isn't entirely true either. Sometimes the motivation for reading comes from other areas - Math, for example, History, Science, and yes, Spelling. Sometimes kids just need a reason to read.
So while I've tried to steadily increase scores in Reading, I feel like Math instruction has suffered. I set out to fix that. That being said, I am somewhat pleased with the results of our mid-quarter evaluation:
But I digress.
Again, I call for balance. I can't think of a classroom teacher who doesn't look at testing data and say, Yes, but... What follows may or may not be a valid reason for poor performance, but it often sounds like excuses and deflection. In fact, as you could tell by my second paragraph above, I cleverly did the same, attempting to deflect attention to administrative policies rather than take ownership of some lower than desirable scores. Still, there must be accountability.
My bosses know the effort I put into my job. They know that I study outside of class, that I read up-to-date research. They see my attempts to integrate new ideas into the classroom. They see me as a leader in the school, and a passionate advocate for children. They know that I am not a slacker.
They also know that I am concerned with growth. As I have made Math the focus of my planning, this year, I look at that table and I see a couple of things. Without getting tangled in confusing reports and drilling down too deeply into specific standards, substandards, and sub-substandards, we can see at a glance that our class made terrific gains since September. It's pleasing to notice that more than 90% of students in Room 404 met or exceeded the test's own projections for growth (That's all but two.). In fact, those 19 students nearly doubled the projections for their growth!
Still, there is a dark secret lying beneath those numbers. It's something that I know that others may not realize. You see, many of these same students - the ones who just racked up some eye-pleasing numbers in Math - scored higher last spring, in the last examination period for their third grade year, than they scored at the beginning of their fourth grade year. What does that tell you? It tells me that somewhere along the line, Math instruction isn't sticking with them. It says that, while they obviously learned enough to take a test, that they forgot what they had learned and had to start over in the fourth grade. Part of that may be 10-year-old human nature, but it tells me that I have to try to embed strategies and skills into their brains in such a way that they'll stay there to be built upon by the teachers at the next level.
| On top of that, we'll continue to develop our Reading and Language skills, as well as History, Science, and core behaviors. I want to be that motor on a Hot Wheels track: that is to say that I have to propel (motivate, encourage) my students enough that they can get to the next teacher who does the same. They will invariably encounter teachers with less passion along the way, but if they can be propelled far enough, with enough energy to learn in spite of their surroundings, they just might make it in this world. |