Adventures By Design

Today was the last day of school before the winter vacation. It was a pretty easy day, where we just talked about the kids’ homework and then they designed their Winter Vacation Journals. There homework this vacation is to write in a journal at least three times a week (or more if they want). They also have to read at least two books and complete a simple story summary.

I’m ready for this break. It has been a great year so far, but I am tired and I need some “me-time” to recharge. My goals for this vacation are to:

• publish my resume and online portfolio (www.lamonte-bird.com)
• finish the 6′+geodesic dome we started in our classroom
• catch-up on some TV that we’ve downloaded but haven’t watched
• finish reading several books that I’ve started over the past few months
• finish drawing several sketches that I’ve started over the past few months
• see the movie I am Legend with my friends Mike and JiMin
• go for some longs walks with Inca and Gin
• call my mom, Janet & Stu, Trent, Ray & Tanis, and Deb & Beejay

It looks like I’ve got lots to do. Yay! It should be a great vacation.

Today I finally finished my report cards. Yay! I feel good about having them done, but they always make me feel sad. I know that my students’ parents take them very seriously, and that can be dangerous for my students. One student I know of came to school with bruises and a gash below her eye. Her mother had beat her with a coat hanger because her test scores were not high enough. Although that particular choice of instrument is unusual, the violence is not. Many Korean students can tell similar stories.

My students tell me that they want to be the best, and that anything less than perfect is not good enough. A couple weeks ago they wrote the standardized private school test for grades 4-6. After they received their test scores they were all upset, with over half the class crying, and several students sobbing uncontrollably. I knew I wasn’t going to be able to teach that afternoon, so I started discussing the test and how they felt about it. I asked where the line was between an acceptable score and one that they thought was too low. They had a range of answers from 86.5% to 98%. I was surprised that the bar was raised so high. By design a standardized test follows a bell curve (actually I don’t know if this is true with these tests; I should ask), so there will undoubtedly be some students who don’t fall in the 86%+, indeed they don’t even get close. What about those students?

It all seems so cruel.

If I could redo this year, I would have a more structured approach to journal writing. Looking back, I realize that I should have had a schedule where we write regularly. Not only would this give my students something to look forward to, but it would also give me more opportunities to assess their strengths and weaknesses.