D is for Data

Data is what we collect on our students all the time. ALL THE TIME. Raise your hand if you think data is about as useful as lips on a chicken.

Yes, data is needed to drive instruction, but taking away instruction time to do all the testing is just plain silly. I'd like to say that all of my students make some sort of progress, but maybe just not enough to reach those highest targets.

So, it has been bothering me that after (and because of) all this data collecting, I don't have time  to just sit down will all the kids and just read a book. For fun. What happened to the time for a good ol' read aloud?! So yesterday I thought "What the hay! We need a break" and pulled out the farm-themed books (at least it went along with this week's theme)  and chose one of my favorites: "The Perfect Nest". This book requires many voices.

The chicken says things like "Hola, Mama!" and "¡Caramba!". The duck says, "Bonjour, Maman!" and"Sacre Bleu!". And best of all, the goose says, "Howdy, Ma!" and "Great balls of fire". And, of course I give them all the proper accents. Well apparently, this book was the talk of the lunch table, because the little darlings who were out of the room during my infamous reading asked if I could possibly read it again. So what did I do? I gathered them on the carpet and did all the theatrics again. They were rolling on the floor laughing. Hopefully, they got a little of the culture/language education and moral that was intended. If anything, we got a break to just enjoy school.

I'm just saying that in a perfect world, school would make us all feel like we did in those ten little minutes today and we could find more time to "just have fun". The data can wait. It's just numbers anyway...

Thanks for letting me vent my frustrations.