Visitors from Everywhere!

The last few weeks have been a whirlwind for Mark and I! Amazing, but a whirlwind!

It all started when our friends Leah and Brian came into town to stay with us for a night (on their way to a wedding) and our friend Ashley came into town for the  weekend. It was a real TFA reunion :)

We had a fun little BBQ caught up and just had fun with each other. It's great to be a teacher and to have summers off!

After Leah and Brian left Ashley, Julie and I continued our busy fun weekend! We danced OULA, we got yogurt and went for walks! Saturday evening was fun because we had more guests, Max and Marcella spent the night! They loved staying with us and the "babysitters" (Ashley and Julie).

Sunday was fun. We all went to the Mall of America to dance OULA at Athleta (MOA on a Sunday at 9 am is the way to go to avoid crowds!) Then we all went to Food Truck Festival in Uptown. It was delicious and fun! I got to have GF cheese curds, Mark and Greg tried amazing Nachos with brisket, Julie a burrito bowl and Ashley other Nachos. Then we got rained on.... big time, huge storm. But we stayed it out and then got dessert, delicious GF donuts :) We will definitely be back when the Festival is in Burnsville in September! Anyone else in?

The week of visitors continued as Paul, Susan and Henry arrived Wednesday. It was a fun week! We played outside (weather was beautiful, 70's almost all week!) went into the cities, had yogurt at Sebastian Joes (If you've never been I recommend it! Right by Lake Harriet), walked around the lakes, swam at the beach at Nokomis, visited Northfield, went on Canoe rides, played in the kiddie pool, used the NICERIDE bike system in minneapolis (also a fun new experience!), had a few cookouts, ate amazing Mexican at Pineda Tacos (very authentic) and just watched the cousins play and fight together :) We definitely miss Paul and Susan being in MN but we loved having them visit!

More visitors arrive tonight (my mom and dad!) Because Mark and I are heading out of town to go to Asheville for Anna's Wedding! It will also be our first weekend away from Dean! We are excited, sad and nervous but more than anything excited! We have planned to go a night early so we will stay downtown and have a little mini-romantic getaway in the beautiful Appalachian Mountains. then wedding festivities begin! I can't wait to see Anna and Warren hitched and to be reunited with all my suitie gals and their men. And also Good luck Mom, Dad , Steve and Nancy with our little monster :)

Test Scores-indication of success?

I can not believe I have slacked as much as I have on my blog, but what can I say, things have been busy!

Where to start? Well first I love being with my students, every day is a challenge, I want to pull my hair out more often than I'd like to admit, and there are so many frustrating aspects of this job, but somehow in the end I keep coming back day after day, putting in 200%, loving my kids and wanting them to succeed.

With all the changes in the district (new superintendent, new curriculum, new expectations, etc) there have been many changes in my school. I have noticed a change in all staff, one of more content/happy to a more stressed/on edge staff. Principals, coaches, and teachers are all quick to bite, and feeling the pressure that is being put on us, which we in turn are putting on our kids. It's kind of nuts to think that everything a child can learn can be measured on one end of the year assessment, that will either make or break the student, teachers, principal and school.

Just today I got back some scores for our Predictive test, that will tell us "how are students are doing" and "how well they will do on the test". It is to not only measure our students growth and knowledge, but often times feels like it is also a judgment on us as teachers. That being said, I was extremely disappointed when my students scores instead of going up, went down. So technically, according to this tests, my students have essentially gotten dumber, and it is my and my principals fault for this to occur.

While these were my first thoughts, that I will admit first led to tears, they were then followed by a more logical thought process. "No, you know you're students have made gains. G-can now read in both Spanish and English on a 2.5 level! A-is writing more and more everyday Y-actually knows words in English J-is asking to read books in all her free time, T- is asking me if he can show me what he has learned. I KNOWWWW that even though it is state-mandated coming from the central government that we take these tests, they are not indicative of my students full knowledge.

They are however indicative of a few things:
a. Our school's test scores are honest, we did not fudge the results.
b. We are not "Teaching to a test" and while we may not get results on a standardized test because we have not spent all our time teaching testing strategies, our students are still learning.
c. maybe the way we are teaching is not useful for the way we are being measured.
d. maybe they way we are being measured is not useful for the way we should be teaching.

This is not to be said to complain of the district, or my school, but more of a reflection to think about my teaching practices and what is expected of my students and I. I know that I will continue to put 200% for my babies, and that no matter what a test score says I KNOW my students are learning. I see it everyday in their critical thinking skills, their love of reading, their continuous questioning and giving explanations and their joy in being at school. I will not let what a test score says affect my passion towards this profession and will continue to give my all for my 50 students.