What's on my mind?

 I love how Facebook asks "What's on your mind, Kim?" Well, I have a lot on my mind today....more than just a quick facebook post so I thought I'd write it here.

I am on February break this week. It's been a nice week. I get up when my body says it's time(or the puppy does! lol!), I have coffee in my pajamas, and watch the Today show. I have seen many multiple news reports on the affects of the pandemic on students and the call and need to get students back to school and how getting teachers vaccinated will help with that. 

I agree on quite a few of the points given, but there is one huge thing that is not being talked about.  How are educators going to take ALL of the lessons learned from this pandemic and remote learning and hybrid learning etc.,  and make a necessitated change to how we educate students in America? 

Teachers are creative, Many develop and deliver amazing lessons that are engaging. Teachers had to take that skill and turn it up a few notches during this time. Now we are facing more educational gaps than ever upon returning to "normal".  So, how do we address those gaps?

I believe that we need to look at each student individually, their skill set, and purposefully target those deficiencies. It's almost like having each student having an IEP. Students with and without disabilities, because let's face it.... all students will have some deficiencies coming out of this. 

Or

Do we "reset" the grade level expectations? 

Do we need grade level expectations? 

Do we need individual student expectations? 

Here's where the problem lies. Schools have been working on a "age-level" cohort model for a long time. This pandemic and the toll on education should make us all realize that we are failing our students if we do not take them where they are at and move them through their educational years based on their skill set, needs, and interests. 

How do you figure out where a students is at?

How do you schedule that sort of thing throughout the day?

What about "extra" classes (BTW- I hate that term.... I am not extra or exploratory(everything is exploratory)). I AM ESSENTIAL! Not to every kid, but to many. 

Come on educators..... let's do what we want our students to do... THINK! Let's make up those "gaps". Let's make education a priority. Let's treat all classes as equal. Let's get the students involved in their education, and let's make it appropriate for each individual where they are at and help each student reach their utmost potential. 

I have a lot of ideas on this and may write again on it soon, but that's it for now. 

#Findyourjoy