Snow Week 2015

Happy Snow Week 2015 Everyone. 

If you are not really sure what I am talking about. I am currently on what has been a 10 day weekend. Metro Nashville Public Schools closed all of last week due to inclement weather. And today they closed for tomorrow due to the roads still being bad in parts of the district. 

This is definitely a bittersweet moment. Sweet because I have the blessing of getting paid for having six days off of work. Bitter, and more bitter than sweet, because I have lost six days of instruction. I have to somehow start figuring out how I can combine lessons. There is so much to do, and there is literally no time to do it. We have TCAP in 34 school days after today. I still have several standards to cover for the first time, and then I have even more to review before testing time. 

It is just so hard even think about how I can enjoy a snow/cold day anymore, because there is so much going through my head as I am sitting down choosing to be lazy. I just don't want my students to miss out on time that can be used before TCAP arrives. 

Pray that we go back to school soon. 

P.S. Shout out to Tatum Daugherty for letting me know how terrible my grammar is as an ELA Teacher. 

Countdown to TCAP

Tennessee is an interesting state. Don't get me wrong, I love it and I am so glad to be teaching here. I love my students (most days), I love my school and my colleagues that I work with. However, I do not like the amount of stress we have on a test at the end of the year. 

There is so much more to teaching children than making sure they can pass three 60 question tests in a week. With many of my kids reading below grade level, the test is naturally going to be more difficult than it would be for kids reading on grade level. But that is still the focus. I already feel that I am focusing more on the test on the end of the year rather than teaching my students to be better people and to be academic. 

I know that feeling this way shows that I see problems and I am seeing them early on in my education career to do something about it. I know I am doing as much as I can. I also know that my students can do so much. I am extremely excited to take this new found feelings for the education system and move forward. 

There is so much to do in the next few days, as we come closer to TCAP. The next few weeks are so important for my students, Jere Baxter and myself. I look forward to seeing what will come.