Lately it seems that I never get quite enough sleep or feel like I have enough time to accomplish my list of to-do's. Days are blurring into each other, as the weeks pass at an irregular pace. When I'm not completely overwhelmed by all of the expectations I am trying to fulfill as a teacher, I'm still finding myself obsessively thinking about tomorrow and/or about how I can truly address the vast needs of each of my students. In many ways, this is strange reality. I absolutely adore my class, even though most of them would chat nonstop if I didn't take away a few recess minutes or attempt to redirect them every couple minutes. From the moment the bell rings to the end of the day I am on my feet, alert, and ready to respond to anything and everything. It is exhausting and exhilarating at the same time. Fortunately, I'm learning a lot about my students, about the educational process, about myself, and about the societal misinterpretations of success and failure. I feel frustrated by the fact that we measure each of our students according to standards that are not necessarily at their personal academic level. With my own eyes, I am witnessing the damaging impact that this "applied sense of failure" is having on the next generation. It is easy for apathy to develop in the hearts and minds of students who are repeatedly labeled as being Basic, Below Basic, or even Far Below Basic. Who wants to be Basic? Are we as a nation, indirectly by our quest to keep up with the Jones, extracting the wind from the sails of the dreams of our young citizens? More and more I am convinced that educational reform needs to happen. Hopefully it will occur soon, for I'm not sure how many more disheartened dreamers I can handle meeting.
