5th Grade Teacher

Just because standardized testing and homework have been long standing practices in education, doesn't mean they have any actual impact on student learning. They're relics of an assembly line era rather than an age of technology and entrepreneurship!

When a 2nd grade word problem on a standardized test is written at a 3rd or 4th grade reading level, then it's not testing for grade level math knowledge, it's testing for above grade level reading comprehension.

We put so much pressure on children to progress successfully at a uniform rate. Yet ~ 60% of college students do NOT graduate in 4 yrs. And there is no real uniform time-line for success as adults.

Effective teachers know rules are important, but focus on relationships, routines, & expectations. If focus is on rules, you will spend most of time and energy enforcing them. But if you focus on relationships, routines, & expectations, you rarely have to defer back to rules

Education is not data or curriculum driven and not even student driven. Education is relationship driven. Teachers thrive w/ positive admin relationships & students thrive w/ positive teacher relationships. Relationships drive education.

We've always had SEL in schools. It was called recess, play, & classes like Music, Art, Physical Education.But they have been taken away or reduced to spend more time on testing, & then we wonder why students lack social/ emotional skills & misbehavior that comes with lack of it.