Excellence in Education:
Going Beyond the Standards
As a teacher, I struggled trying to balance SOL standards
with bringing history alive, instilling creativity, developing higher-order
thinking skills, and building 21st-century skills.
Recently, I’ve seen several teachers—and more importantly,
students—go beyond the standards.
- Ms. Campbell’s students doing book projects.
- Mr. Kuzma’s students creating mini-projects and posters that required creativity and personal touches
- Mr. Batt and Ms. Harper’s students allowing students to run with their own ideas.
- Of course, this is only a partial list but I wanted to focus on teachers who have End of Course Tests.
What do all these activities have in common?
- Teachers recognizing that standards are just a framework and are not limiting their teaching to standards-only
- Creativity
- Questions being asked that don’t have right-wrong answers
- Student enthusiasm
- Passion and pride
In addition to applauding your efforts, I want to encourage
you to take risks. Step out of your comfort zones. Try something new. Diverge
from the pacing guide. Challenge yourself and your students. Try a new lesson,
one where the outcome is not always known.
We owe it to our students to encourage risk-taking behavior.
Please know that I have complete confidence in you. In this
era of standards and accountability, risk-taking can be daunting, but I’ll come
back to a simple question, “Why did you become a teacher?”
I’m willing to bet that none of you answer, “So my students
can pass a multiple choice test?”
So as you enter the second term, take a risk. Step out of
your comfort zone. Bring your subject alive. Create lessons that embody your
spirit, your passion and show why you
became a teacher.
As we go forward, lets make it a goal/expectation that each
of us tries one brand new lesson this term. Please invite me into your
classroom when you try this new lesson.
I look forward to seeing your passion come alive.
Administrative Notes
As we near the end of October and the first term, please
take a couple of minutes to submit a positive referral http://goo.gl/cZIXm7 . Possibilities: biggest
improvement from marking period 1 to 2, student who brought the most to your
class, student who got the most of your class, etc.
We have a leadership meeting this afternoon. If you have any
questions or concerns, please share them with your department chair.
Interested in attending an edcamp? Some upcoming edcamps
near us:
- Nov 2: Harrisburg, PA
- Nov 9: Baltimore
- Nov 16: Hagerstown
- Nov 23: New Jersey
I’ll probably be going to the
Baltimore edcamp if anyone is interested in carpooling (know a great place for
crab cakes on the way home)
Stat/Tweet/Article of the Week
From the Harvard Business Review, After a Failure, Shame is
Harmful, Guilt is Productive http://goo.gl/XtuYYV
