 | I don't enjoy team sports - watching, playing, or talking about them - but I do understand the reference to fantasy football that Dave Burgess makes in his book, Teach Like a PIRATE, and I fully understand the connection he makes to education. In fantasy football, a player's worth is solely based on their individual statistics. Much of what makes a player great, and helps a team win, doesn't show up on the stat sheet. The block that set up the sinning touchdown? Forget about it. It wasn't my guy who scored. Mindlessly and obsessively tracking stats can lead to a shallow view of the game. |
I tell kids and their parents that the standardized test is just a snapshot of a single moment in their education and life. I let them know there is more to them than some scores on a piece of paper.
The exact principle holds true when we turn school into a twisted version of fantasy sports and over-emphasize standardized testing. An intense focus on test scores can lead to a shallow and narrow view of what is important. I refuse to boil down the educational, growth, and development of my students into a statistic. Much of what is truly significant in the long run just doesn't show on the "stat sheet" provided by test scores. For example, I would much rather my kids leave my class with the strength of character and courage to fight racism when they find it, than have memorized some facts about the Civil Rights Act of 1964. I'm not saying you can't have both, I'm just pointing out that only one of those things will be measured on the test - and it isn't the most important one.
Thankfully, I've been able to see this in action with my own class. I've made manners and kindness the priority for my students, and vowed to use these so-called soft skills as the primary way to raise those academic scores. When a principal wants improvement, I don't teach more, harder; we just amp up our efforts to get students to give attention to others when it is their turn. The academic focus becomes a byproduct of those efforts, and we've just improved not only academics, but also the future.
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