Sitting on the Dock of the...

I was supposed to have my wisdom teeth removed this morning, but alas, my stupid cold prevented me from getting this dreaded misery over with.  It was too late to go in to school, and I already called in so I decided that I would spend the day on the couch trying to get over this cold.  Bring on the Potent C, which I might add puts emergen-c to shame. Just sayin'.

I decided to review my notes in my Reflective Practice for Educators textbook in order to write up the formal PD calendar.  One of the items I highlighted, starred, and underlined was this statement: What is my role in this situation and what can I do to make a difference?

That statement is what I truly think accountability is all about.  Somehow, it has turned into test score data, which I can only blame on laziness because people do not want to take the energy to figure out how else to gauge student learning and teacher effectiveness in an "easy" way.  Interestingly enough, teachers, which I have begun to call practitioners, rarely get to use the easy way out.

What is my role in this situation? First, I guess I should figure out what the role is! My role is two-fold: making my students better readers and writers AND helping them to champion their future.  In other words, I want them to be the best people they can be. Challenge taken. I know and accept my role, but the question remains what can I do to make a difference?

I think reflective practice is essential to answering the preceding question, because it is not one that is easily answered.  I am a practitioner. I am well-versed in reading strategies and differentiated instruction jargon, but putting that into action with 30 some students in 70 minutes is anything but easy.  I do know that I need to help my students develop schema, to think abstractly about different concepts, and to chunk what I'm teaching.  I do not have the luxury of sending a novel home with many of my students and saying "good luck, and may the odds be ever in your favor".  For some of my students that's synonymous with sending a person who cannot swim into the ocean without a life jacket.  I simply cannot do that.  So for now, I will continue to plug away.  We will read Mango Street in class, we will Think-Pair-Share, we will write, we will explore, and hopefully we will grow.