You can take your scores and ...

Last weekend Facebook was rampant with teachers jabbering about the recently released CST scores.  My colleagues and I were scrambling to remember user names and passwords to see how our students measured up on last May’s state testing.  As many boasted about the impressive numbers of their students’ successes, others, myself included, wondered what went wrong, how some students went down while others went up, from their previous year’s score.  In true teacher style, the question that finally pulled myself out of the ‘is this really my true calling’ pro-con list in my mind, was what can I learn from these test scores? What did I do for the students who’s scores sky-rocketed and how can I translate that to ALL my students this year?

The question hung on my shoulder all the way to Target the next day to purchase whiteboard calendars to post in the classroom, so students can have an additional daily visual reminder of upcoming exams. The question sat on my computer screen this morning as I updated my teacher website with the school year’s supply list, so students could come to school the first day prepared to learn. The question, I’m confident, will share my pillow every night from now until next week when I step in front of the young minds whom I will enrich this school year.

In my 8 years of teaching, I’ve learned a few things from my administrators, colleagues, parents, and most importantly students.  Teaching is more than just knowing the material.  Just because a person can name all the influential world leaders of the 18^th century, doesn’t mean he or she can articulate that to a ten year old.  Teaching is fluid and changes with the times, our children are being raised in a technology-centered world, their education should be complimenting that.  All students are different, Johnny and Sally don’t look, smell, feel or sound the same, so how they learn isn’t going to be the same.  Students learn best when they feel valued, when they feel a connection with the teacher, they have pride in their work when the teacher shows them that he or she is proud of them.  Just as good parents find the balance between love and discipline, good teachers also walk that same fine line. Students thrive in a structured environment that offers individual opportunities from creativity. Lastly, no matter how much one teacher gives everything he or she has, results are always going to vary! We are teaching little humans, not robots.

My success as an educator does not rest on the percentages of ‘basic’ and ‘proficient’ scores on my computer screen.  My success rests in the little bodies that fill my seats each year.  It isn’t measured by the number of awards that hang from my walls, rather by the number of letters that say “Ms. DeWitt, thank you for being a great teacher” and “Even though I fooled around in your class most of the time, I really did learn something from you.” That is the reason I return each August with hope and excitement!