Musings

Life at work has slowed down a bit after the stressful onslaught of last week. Now there's just the usual stuff to do, not all the other extras. I was talking to a (general ed) colleague of mine earlier today about Open House last week. She was reminiscing about the "good old days" when you could do fun activities often during the week along with the curriculum. Nowadays it's all about teaching to the standards and following the pacing plan in time for testing. She called Open House a "horse and pony show". Teachers are left scrambling for fun things to display for the parents (artwork, projects, etc). She said if we were truly going to show what we taught, we'd only be displaying worksheets ... and then who would come to Open House? Although the conversation might seem negative to you, it wasn't discussed in this way; it was more an honest reflection of education today. I thought she had a good point.