Let Them Be Little!, Please!

After the week year I have had at school, it got my mind thinking.

  My class is actually really smart and wonderful, but every year I feel their behavior gets worse!  The talking!  Oh my!  The talking!  It is NONSTOP!  Pretty much as soon as I say to stop talking, the talking begins again.

 AHHHHH!!

What is the deal with this?  It is not my first year!  It is not my 5th or even my 10th year of teaching!  I thought after teaching for almost 12 years that I would have my classroom management down and be in control.   I have always looked for better ways to handle my classroom.  I guess some would say I am an over achiever because I am constantly thinking about my class and what is best for them.

I have noticed this wild monkey behavior is not only coming from my class, but the whole school!

WHY???

Why, is this happening?  It is only the end of January.  They shouldn't be acting like this!

Then, I realized what we are doing to the poor students!  We are throwing so much information at them that it becomes an overload!

An information overload!

They can't take it!  They need to be kids!

I try to have "fun" with my class while learning, however it is getting more difficult every year.  More and more curriculum is thrown at these poor children.  There isn't time to give them lessons on how to be a good citizens and a respectful person.  We have to get them to read and write paragraphs by the end of kindergarten.

Is that the reason all the students are acting like wild monkeys?

I don't know, but I do think it has something to do with it.

I look at my own child who is in Preschool.  He is getting 4 sight words a week!  Yes, I said 4 sight words a week!  He is really smart so I am glad they are pushing him, but when is he allowed to be a kid?  He gets in trouble at school all the time for wrestling and doing what I would consider a normal 5 year old boy behavior.  I know the 5 and 6 year old's in my classroom still would do all that stuff if they could.  Isn't that being a kid?  I know it isn't appropriate for the learning atmosphere but isn't preschool when children learn how to get a long and be good people?  I guess not any more!  They better know all their letters by the time they leave and their sounds.  If they don't, they are considered behind.

I get it that most kids are very capable of learning all their letters and sounds. My son has known both for the last couple of years.  But is this what should be taught in preschool?  Or even kindergarten?  

I don't remember learning all the stuff I have to teach now in kindergarten.  I think I turned out okay.  I get that it was years ago when I was in kindergarten, but is the curriculum now really that much better for our society?

I feel like I am in a horse race teaching everything as fast as I can so my kiddos can get to their final learning goal.  Is this how I am really supposed to teach?  What happened to slowing down and teaching it for mastery?  I am stressed when my kiddos have trouble picking something up because there is no time to stop and reteach.  What happened to really teaching?

I was asked a question last night from my sister about her son.  He is really smart.  She was concerned because he is not interested in doing homework when he comes home from preschool.  I told her some kids just aren't ready and really I don't know that any boy really enjoys doing homework.  First off, why is the poor 5 year old preschool boy getting homework?  Second off, when is he allowed to be a kid?  I told her to relax, he will be fine in kindergarten.  She was worried that he was going to be behind. 

 It just makes me so sad.  What is our country doing to these poor kids?  Is this push for smarter kids really making them smarter to live in our society?  Or are they all going to be super smart, but don't know how to interact in society?

We are cramming so much curriculum down their throats that it is ridiculous.  Do the studies show this is beneficial?  Is this the reason why the students talk nonstop because their brain are on overload?

When I went to school (Yay!  BGSU), I was taught about being developmentally appropriate.  Apparently, that is NOT what we do now.  Kids are not ready!  They NEED to be KIDS!

Please, let us go back to teaching basics and really getting the students to understand them!  Lets not have a horse race to see how much we can cram in, in 180 days.  

Lets teach the kids how to get along and function in our society!  

Lets teach then how to be respectful and polite to others!

Aren't those things just as important as reading, writing and arithmetic? 

Lets slow down and teach for mastery!

Lets be developmental appropriate!

Lets let the teachers teach!