I am back...I have not been silenced.
The past days school days have been pure HELL for all teachers in Texas.
The past ten days have been a nightmare that all teachers in Texas dread.
In Texas, we call this hell and nightmare TAKS.
The TAKS test, the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills. The evaluation instrument that is used to determine if students graduate from high school.
It is all part of the "No Child Left Behind" program. The only thing I can say is it doesn't work. Teachers spend all their time preparing their students for TAKS. As a result, little time is left for true classroom instruction of the relevant subject matter.
I could write volumes about TAKS, but I will not. I will leave that to others. But I would like to explain where I have been and what I have been doing.
My time the past two weeks has been taken up by preparing my lessons in one last ditch effort to help my students pass TAKS.
I have been so tired when I get home that I have little time to post and even less time read what other have blogged.
With any luck, I will be able to post some this weekend and next week. Much has happened in the news this week and I want to posting my thoughts, read other people's blogs, and get back into the blogsphere.
It would have been easy to just blow off the TAKS preparations and let the student's scores "fall where they will."
In my right mind, I couldn't do that. Even though much of TAKS is ridiculous and many of my students couldn't care less about passing TAKS, much less graduating, I still feel the need to try.
My father told me many years ago if you agree to do a job, do the best you can; all the time.
If I didn't, I would not be able to look at myself in the mirror.
2 comments:
I wish the pay rate for teachers was better than it is. You guys deserve so much more!
angela: Yes, more pay would b nice, but I believe everyone thinks they deserve more play for their job.
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