I agree with what you said about student grades. I think that is why I prefer kindergarten. Our grades, essentially, consist of a yes or no - S or N. However, in meeting with the parents I am able to explain all of the skills required for promotion. I can show what their child is capable of doing in the classroom and how many of the state required skills they have mastered. There are some grey areas, however, for the most part it is usually rather simple. They can either identify the letters or they can not. They can either count objects in a set or they can not. I enjoy being able to sit with my parents and show them work their child has done, not just a number on a page.
Heather's original post...
In the first chapter I can totally relate to people seeing two sides of situations. My fiancée is a complete pessimist (he says realist) and I am a hopeless optimist. He will see the negative in every situation…everyone is out to get everyone else. I, however, have this complete naïve trust of people and think people are genuinely good people who occasionally have poor judgment. I think this is one of the reasons we compliment each other so well.
I was intrigued by the idea that we produce reasons for our actions that are plausible in our own minds. When working with children (or even adults for that matter), I frequently ask “why did you do that?” and the answers don’t always make sense to me. I have been told on more than one occasion that I am a person that “has an answer for everything”. My dad tells me it makes me argumentative, but in my mind, I am just trying to express why it seems like a good idea to me. Now I can tell him that it is my own interpretation of what is going on around me.
The universe of measurement is not where I dwell. I have never been competitive, nor do I define success by “getting ahead” or “overcoming the odds”. I do know several people who live in this universe and what always strikes me is that they are NEVER happy. No matter how much they achieve or how much they have, they always want more…always have to be better than the guy next door/down the street/etc.
I was so inspired by the story of the teacher who gave everyone an A and then asked them to write about it. The one thing I hate most about my job is giving grades. In my mind I would rather meet with the parents and tell then the strengths and areas of improvement with their child. Unfortunately we are in a place in our society right now where we need to rank students and therefore rank teachers in order to gauge success. In essence we are saying that performance on an isolated task equates mastery. Even as it’s written you can sense the idiocracy in it…yet it persists.
This book really has me critically thinking about my life both personally and professionally (as the title suggests). I really want to be a contribution in my family and with my students and co-workers. I think that sometimes it is easy to get lost in the negativity and the competitiveness that is out there. It is only by taking this critical look at myself and my every day practices that I will be able to make that conscious effort to be a contributor, give that A, and see the good in the world.
I am totally recommending this book to everyone!
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