What else could you have done?

Test scores are back. Here in Florida we have officially entered into "What else could you have done?" season for teachers. For you non-teachers out there, this is the time of year that you hold classroom teachers responsible for all of the woes of the world. You hold up the test score of a random student and ask them why the student didn't meet the arbitrary standard set forth by the state. Most often teachers will have an explanation, after all we spend a lot of time with these kids. Most often that explanation involves things that are out of our control. Invariably we are asked the question, "What else could you have done?"

Don't misunderstand me. I understand that in many business situations this is a very valid question. But in education it is more of an accusation. If every student didn't meet the standard then it has to be your fault. You must have not done enough. You must not have done enough to close the gap, or build the plane while you are flying it, or develop grit (all my teacher peeps get it).

This one little loaded question can have grave consequences. For a new teacher it can make them feel insecure, and uncertain. For the teacher that is barely holding on it can be the final straw that makes them change their career. And for a great many teachers, this question will cause them to become disenfranchised with the educational system. They will feel like there is nothing that they can do that is good enough. They will lose their passion. These educators might leave the profession, but a more frightening outcome is that they will not. They will remain in their position, apathetic until they retire.

What else could you have done? The real answer is that we do not know. If we knew, we would done that thing. We did all the things we knew. Why can't that be enough?

Comments

Three Is More Than One

Umm, excuse me Governor Desantis but last year you said that you had a issue with standardized testing. I was like okay, this is a cause that I can get behind. The way we are currently using standardized test in the education system is abhorrent. In many cases these tests are the only measure of student and teacher success. Standardized tests don't allow us to celebrate the small wins. If a student read 2 books last year and 15 books this year, that's a win. If you learned to write your name in cursive, that's a win. If you know how to divide or understand fractions that's a win. I don't care what the test says. When did kids become standardized. My oldest daughter could read before she went to kindergarten. Her sister learned to read in kindergarten. My son could read when he was four. They all turned out just fine. Kids are not standardized. I was excited to hear that we were doing away with the FSA. As an educator, I felt like someone was finally paying attent...

But I Want It Now!!

I have been struggling with our upcoming knowledge sharing assignment. I think the problem is that I have too many big ideas. I want my students to all have access to the internet. I want my kids to all be fluent. I want them to know how to do all the things. In an ideal world, I would be able to go into my classroom on day one and incorporate every tool that we learned about in this class. I want all of these thing and I want them right now! Here's the problem. I have to do the work. If I want my big ideas to work, I have to start small. The problem is that small sometimes feels too small. I always want to put my spin on it, to try and make it my own. For me, curating and sharing the content of other people feels a little dishonest. Even when you give credit, someone is getting the idea from you and they might attribute it to you. I am much more comfortable sharing something verbally, than I am sharing something in a online space. I am starting to understand that sharing c...

Crowdsourcing Woes

I decided to post my example for my produsage assignment on Facebook. I made the post in my ELA Middle School Facebook Group. I posted it in several other spaces, but here it is in case you missed it. I wanted some feedback and to see if anyone had suggestions or thoughts. Now I know we know that crowdsourcing is hit or miss. There's always that person. But I was surprised by the really strong adverse reactions that a few people had it terms of this assignment. Their issue was that students would be teased or stereotyped based on their song choices. I have to be honest, I am a music chameleon. I like all kinds of music and I don't pay much attention to genre (my real spotify playlist is a hot mess of awesome.) Also, I am also a firm believer in providing a safe space in the classroom. We don't tease each other or make fun of one another for our choices. Now I wonder if I need to reevaluate. The suggestion was made to come up with an alternative assignment for th...

Tired Teacher

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