Please STOP talking!

I have been thinking more and more about my post that I made recently.  The one titled Let Them Be Little, Please!  I received so many comments about how so many teachers feel the same way I do.  It made me feel so much better to know that I wasn't the only one that felt that way.  Puzzling, because so many feel this same way but we still have our standards so high that children aren't allowed to be children, and it is causing elementary schools to be in an uproar all the time!  

There was always different times throughout the school year that the students would be a little harder to control.  Like, around the holidays, but now it seems nonstop!  All they want to do is talk, talk, talk!  As soon as I say to stop talking, guess what?!!  They begin talking again.  What is wrong with these kids?  Are they disrespectful?  Is it poor parenting?  Is it poor teaching?  What is it?  

Another week of school is over for me, and more and more I am feeling the stress of being a teacher.  

 Now, do I make it worse on myself?  Probably a little bit!  But I have high standards for my students and I want to fill their little sponges with the knowledge they will need to be successful.  I just don't teach to the 'test' like some teachers do.  I teach the standards and what I think the students will need to be successful in life.

I think we have made our standards too high that most of our kindergarteners can't even meet the standard!  For example, we use Read Well as our reading series.  Last year we started having the students get to unit 20 by the end of the year.  This is a first grade reading level.  I noticed last year my students were struggling with this.  This year the same thing is happening, but it actually may be worse!  

At the end of the third quarter our students need to be finished with unit 15.  I have one more week before I need to start assessments for the 3rd quarter and my groups are at 13 and 14.  The group at unit 14 will most likely make it, but the other group at 13 will not!  I have been busting my butt to get these students where they need to be.  I have given reading homework for the students to practice.  Most of the students are having trouble with the fluency part.  It doesn't seem right for half of my class not to meet the goal.  What is wrong?  Is it me?  It must not be because the majority of my team is in the same boat.  Is the standard too high?  Are the students not back from Christmas break?  Are their brains finished for the year?  It could be so many things.

I came across this post on Facebook and I thought it was brilliant!

Is it because the students seem to be finished for the year?  Do we need to slow down and teach more in depth?  Do we go back and teach how to get a long and be respectful?

What are you doing in your classroom to help with the talking?

I have been using the Scoreboard from WBT and picking a mystery student.

I am hoping these students turn out ok with the pressure we are putting on them.

Thanks for reading!

Have a Wolfelicious day!

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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!