Only seven more days and I get to kick the Orcs out the door. Oh, I can’t wait. However, the school is in a bit of an upheaval. We lost 5 teachers at the end of the year to various things: one went on to be a principal; a couple went back to school and so on. Supposedly they have interviewed and had prepared to offer the jobs to new teachers. But there is a glitch.
In my school district, you are allowed to choose which school you want your child to go to. Each elementary school has its own philosophy and way of doing things. My kids’ school is the earthy-crunchy granola-eating school. Many of the students are the children of the professors at the private colleges next door. Very eclectic school. The classes are multi-age. My son was in the same class from first through third grade. Anyway, we are unique in the district and suddenly we are very popular. The school is bursting at the seams and can take no more kids. This is not so in the rest of the district. Many of the other schools have had a severe drop in enrollment. The result is that those teachers will be moved to our school. I don’t really have a problem with that; however some of these teachers are coming from schools that have a completely opposite philosophy than ours. A couple of schools are slaves to standardized testing and I worry these teachers will bring these ideas with them.
I’m not a big fan of the standardized tests. My son loves them. And, to brag a bit, he had a perfect score in math and an advanced score in language arts. But I don’t think these tests are gauging all the other great things my son has learned from his teacher. He’s learned so much more than the fundamentals and he has had the luxury of having a teacher who has encouraged her students to explore and incorporate their interests in the classroom.
A Big Thank You….
…for all of your hugs and kind thoughts. I’m feeling much better. I’m sure Tom Cruise won’t be my friend anymore, but I have to say the anti-depressants have made a world of difference. Supposedly the good affects really kick in after two weeks but after a week I can feel a difference.
