ODE TO A "REAL" WORK DAY...

I am feeling nostalgic today and thinking back to the time long ago when
district late starts, professional development days, and early dismissals meant glorious and uninterrupted time to work in my classroom.  They often used to fall at the end of the month, so changing over seasonal bulletin boards and my calendar, along pulling holiday files of printables to copy and preparing new learning center activities was easy, breezy.

But alas....gone are those days when valuable "student-free" time was my own.  Now I must attend endless in-service seminars about data collection, progress monitoring, common core standards, and new curriculum adoptions.  I am often made to look at charts and PowerPoint presentations that tell me information about my students that I already know because of my good instincts, years of training and experience, and day-to-day time spent in the trenches with them.

I really don't need a line plot graph to tell me that "Johnny" and "Jill" are at-risk readers and writers.  I don't need a spreadsheet to tell me that "Sam" and "Sally" are cannot add or subtract fluently yet.  I have authentic samples of their daily work that prove it.  I don't need a pie chart to tell me that 1/3 of my second graders will probably not pass the 3rd Grade Ohio Achievement Assessment.  What I do need is less time spent in meetings and more time in my classroom to prepare or create instructional materials that will address their current learning needs.

I will get off my soapbox now and get ready for my day so that I can get to school early and have an hour of peaceful planning time before I have to go to.....you guessed it.....a meeting.  SIGH.......

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