This week completes my second week at the school, and I have met all of the 5th grade students, yet I have only worked with two of the three classes (ability grouped-high, regular, low). I had a conversation with one of the teachers on the team which consists of one Reading/LA; one Math; and one Science teacher. I am there to work with the entire 5th grade based on the fact that all of the students scores on county reading assessments are lower than they were at the beginning of the school year; this includes the higher leveled students. My concern was that there has not be an established time to meet with these "higher" students to provide some enrichment, and target areas of need per the data. The science teacher mentioned to me that she did not see the need of me meeting and working with her higher students, because after all, "They are going to get a 3 on the FCAT, but the other students might not even get that." This alone is such an example of flawed thinking and an embracment of low expectations. If the students are in the highest performing level of 5th grade students it should be an expectation for them to score the highest on the FCAT; not the mean. When we have educators that do not understand the point of holding high expectations for students, we in turn have students that meet those expectations. Disappointing!
~Neshea
How frustrating! How can the students hold themselves to a higher standard, when the people charged with educating them don't? I believe that if you challenge students, they will rise to meet the expecatation and develop a sense of inner motivation to continue to do better. I'm curious..what did you say to that teacher who commented that you did not need to work with the "higher" performing students?
ReplyDeleteLatisha
Well Latisha, because I am there as a tutor I do not want the teachers to feel that I am judging their classroom performance, or personal philosophies for that matter. I simply mentioned that I was hired because her "high" students along with the rest of the 5th grade students had significant drops in their scores from fall to winter. I mentioned enrichment for these students, and also reiterated that I was there to benefit ALL of the students; not just the ones that are perceived to be doing poorly or performing below grade-level.
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