Mar
2013
Things I Want You to Know
I’m taking part in the Slice of Life Challenge sponsored by Ruth and Stacey over at Two Writing Teachers. I hope to write every day for the month of March and then continue weekly each Tuesday. Join in yourself or head over to check out what’s happening with other slices. If you’re taking part in the SOL, leave a link to your post. I’d love to read it.
Whoever decided to put Daylight Savings Time in the middle of statewide testing didn’t think that one through. We were all dragging this morning. As I watched my students taking the test this morning, I kept thinking of how little these tests actually measure. I want my students to know so much more from their year reading and writing with me. As I watched their pencils scratch across the lined pages, I started playing around with a poem.
I want you to know the power of words to sweep you out of your present state of mind, to carry you across the universe, down the rabbit hole, back and forth in time. I want you to know the power of words to open your mind to myriad possibilities, to give you a safety valve to explore the dangers of growing up or making the wrong decision. I want you to know the power of words to reflect an image of who you are and what you yearn to be, to let you walk a mile in someone else’s life, to grow your heart three sizes or more. I want you to know the power of words to change your life and to change your world.
It’s just a first draft. I’d love your comments and suggestions. What do you want your students to know?
Kristi
March 12, 2013 at 2:20 pm (11 years ago)We don’t do Daylight Savings or high stakes tests here in Saudi, but there is still so much I want my students to learn. I have summed it up as wanting them to love to read and see themselves as writers.
Mrs. McGriff
March 12, 2013 at 2:34 pm (11 years ago)That is my goal for my students as well.
Maria Selke (@mselke01)
March 12, 2013 at 6:57 am (11 years ago)I love this. In the “testing season” this is a great reminder of what REALLY matters… and bubble tests ain’t it.
Mrs. McGriff
March 12, 2013 at 7:42 am (11 years ago)No, they ain’t!
Melanie Meehan
March 11, 2013 at 11:02 pm (11 years ago)I love the repetition and this is such an important poem to get out in this crazy age of what we have to prioritize as educators. The image of the safety valve struck me, as did the rabbit hole. Please keep playing with it and sharing!
Mrs. McGriff
March 12, 2013 at 6:56 am (11 years ago)Thank you for the feedback. I definitely want to keep playing with it.
Carol
March 11, 2013 at 10:53 pm (11 years ago)Love the lines about books as a safety valve, also books as a tool to grow hearts three sizes more. Those are exactly what I want for my students! And no, those are not the things that will be measured for the next six days, as we take the state reading tests. They also will not measure decency, or integrity, or strength of character, or kindness. And all of those are super important to me too.
Mrs. McGriff
March 12, 2013 at 6:55 am (11 years ago)Maybe one day the world will wake up to the fact that not everything that is important can be measured with a numerical score.
Storykeeper
March 11, 2013 at 10:27 pm (11 years ago)My students were bemoaning daylight savings time and tests.
Mrs. McGriff
March 12, 2013 at 6:54 am (11 years ago)Morning came early, yesterday.
Kristin B.
March 11, 2013 at 9:01 pm (11 years ago)I think many of us have state testing on our minds today. I want students to know that filling in bubbles is not the most important thing that they will learn in school, and it’s ok to use something more than a number two pencil.
Mrs. McGriff
March 12, 2013 at 6:53 am (11 years ago)I love the thought of using more than a #2 pencil. My students compose with pens and pencils, laptops and iPods and phones and…
Laura Komos
March 11, 2013 at 7:52 pm (11 years ago)I stand beside you in your thinking that standardized testing doesn’t measure what I want my students to gain in our year together. I hope we can all continue to speak up and speak out about the issues we face in education today!
Mrs. McGriff
March 11, 2013 at 8:01 pm (11 years ago)Thanks! Keep speaking loudly in support of education.
Theresa
March 11, 2013 at 4:39 pm (11 years ago)Mrs. McGriff,
Your beautiful words are a powerful message of what is truly important. I think that your ending is also symbolic of what we as teachers will continue to do as we send a message to the higher powers and their insane ideas about education and measuring progress….”the power of words to change your life to change your world”…thanks for sharing. I may try this for a future post.
~ Theresa
Mrs. McGriff
March 11, 2013 at 4:40 pm (11 years ago)Thank you. I try to keep hope that we can change this crazy world of ed reform that we are currently in.
Chris
March 11, 2013 at 4:19 pm (11 years ago)Well written, Kay! I especially like the “safety valve” part. It works for both reading and writing, exploring those ideas and feelings and events we can’t do safely in our “real” lives. Thank you for touching on the inadequacy of the test in measuring what words really can do.
Mrs. McGriff
March 11, 2013 at 4:20 pm (11 years ago)I started out with the power of good books, but changed it to words because it is true of writing, too. I’ve lost count of students who have thanked me for teaching them to express anger through writing. It’s saved quite a few from getting in trouble because they write it out before yelling at other people.
Bonnie K
March 11, 2013 at 4:17 pm (11 years ago)All I can add is WAKE UP POLITICIANS! What about you doing to great teachers and students who need their inspiration! I love your poem and your passion to teach.
Frustrating that we can’t be heard.
Bonnie
Mrs. McGriff
March 11, 2013 at 4:19 pm (11 years ago)Thanks! I sometimes wonder of the people of our country will wake up in time to see–and stop–what is going on with education “reform.” I hope our voices will be enough.