So, today I gave a test on early battles and conflicts of the Revolutionary War and their root causes. We've been reading a grade-apprpriate book on the history of the Revolutionary War.
There were a few who I felt were not ready for the test for a variety of reasons including but not limited to grade level reading proficiency.
It actually felt good to run my classes my way (even though I do that anyway) and to put those students in a position to succeed! There is no hard and fast rule that says I HAD to give those students that test on this day! Even with two different sets of tests prepared to meet the "zone of proximal development" needs of my students, there were a few who I felt weren't even ready for that!
It felt good to put them to work, reading materials on the war much more suitable to their level of proficiency at this time (with the expectation that they will grow and move forward as we work together).
It's this type of teaching, the philosophical aspects of the profession that reformers don't understand. Teaching is not a simple algorithm! It can't be "gotten" in five weeks!
I'm not going to end writing about "them". Rather, I'll celebrate in advance the success these students will have this year. I'll take some progress over no progress at all!! The journey of a thousand miles, someone said, begins with the first step.
No comments:
Post a Comment