Well! There's a tale or two I could tell at this point, but I'm not.
Back in August, I was all fired up about a new teaching position. I'm no longer at that school. I'm on job search now. In between doing bits and pieces on "the hunt", though, I have time to keep up with my professional reading, mostly through LinkedIn groups, and looking to stir up some interest in a favorite topic of mine: Test Anxiety (TA, for short).
I believe that most of us experience at least a small amount of TA in our lives. It will likely manifest itself in small annoying ways; getting jittery before a meeting or interview (arguably a test of sorts), maybe some physical reactions (sweating, "butterflies" in the stomach, sluggishness or hyperactivity), or even combinations of these. You know how you feel at those times. Now think about some of the kids we teach.
Imagine yourself in their spot. You know you have challenges, and your teachers are doing all they can to help. Some days are better than others, and you know what you need to do. But always looming in the distance like a gathering thunderstorm is the inescapable ordeal of the end of year tests. You know you have to pass them to move on with your friends, but will you know enough?
Thinking on this, I begin to understand how some of the issues we face in the classroom develop. If we were faced with this kind of continual pressure to perform at the highest level we can conceive with little tangible reward how would we react? I believe that many of our kids have given up.
We are currently well into the first generation of students who have known little but the testing regime since kindergarten. We have constantly put before them the requirement of passing a major test at the end of the school year (or earlier, which presents its own set of issues), then, thanks to the wisdom of The State, have been increasingly herded into the ever narrowing box of mandatory content and style. The published curriculum guides now include timelines and mandatory objectives within those lines. From what I've seen and experienced first hand, these documents are poorly written and the sequencing so scattered that the very idea of scaffolding is gone, along with the ability to teach to a student's individual strengths.
Faced with the certain knowledge that so many of our students have learning issues, and that the system is, for all practical purposes, set against them is it any wonder that they give up? Is it really all that mysterious an event that they would prefer the bread and circuses approach to avoiding reality? Games are instant reward and make you feel powerful. The music, popular culture, constant celebrity "news", the cult status of professional athletes all contribute to a climate of "this feels better than learning, it's everywhere I look, so it must be what's really important in life" thinking. So, if you're not getting a concept in class, why not create your own commercial and break out in song and dance? The movies your folks like to watch say that the only way to settle something is to fight to the death, so when that kid over there looks at you, it's OK to take him out. Learning? Who needs it when you already know it doesn't matter and you're going to fail anyway, and that surrender leads to a release from the anxiety.
It all starts with the fear we instill in our kids at an early age.
I'll be expanding on this topic next week. Until then, the office door is wide open.....
