Focus
I finished reading the book, Focus: Elevating the Essentials to Radically Improve Student Learning, by Mike Schmoker. It was given to each of the teachers in my building, by our principal for summer reading.
Schmoker advocates Simplicity, Clarity and Priority. By this he means we need to simplify our curriculum by cutting the number of standards down, selecting only the most important, and then teaching them thoroughly, using recognized good consistent teaching. I don’t agree with everything he has to say, but there are definitely some things I will take from this book. I talked about it in my last post, and shared my plans for writing about the books we are reading here.
Please visit my other blog, Day In the Classroom, and read my review.
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About
My name is Barbara Day, and I just completed my twenty-fifth year of teaching. During that time I have taught first, second, third, and fourth grades. For the past 22 years, I have been teaching in an Iowa public school of choice. Our school is a traditional school that teaches the Core Knowledge curriculum, in addition to regular school district curriculum. This means that in fourth grade, we study everything from the American Revolution to Medieval history. As a teacher, I am constantly a student, and as I learn, the kids learn with me. As a teacher, I am also an actor, an artist, a writer, and a graphic designer. I have always said that one of the great things about being a teacher is you can color, cut and paste, build things, and play games with the kids, and no one questions your maturity or sanity. Teaching can keep you young or age you, and often it does both, all on the same day.
Mostly I am a student of life. I am still trying to figure things out, both on a personal and professional level. This blog is just part of my attempt to reflect and learn more about myself and the world around me.
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Prospecting For Treasure 
In my experience, its not how many standards must be accomplished but rather the emphasis on standardized testing. One test (or one mode of showing knowledge) cannot possibly show what every child knows. People learn in different ways, which means they show what they know in different ways. If a child fails, its assumed they don’t know that standard or they were not exposed to that standard enough. There needs to be a major overhaul in how we assess students.