Hmm......

Well I'm posting but not too much going on.....some issues at school as to how we are providing extra support to our bilingual students with the least amount of English. I'm blessed to work with a lot of very hard-working people who all want the same goal - to best serve our students to make them successful; it's just hard when the tools we need to do so are not available....there are a lot of people down on education these days, but most really aren't aware of how different education is today from 20+ years ago and how we cannot compare how we were taught versus how we are teaching today - kids are very different from their backgrounds, language, and experiences.......expectations are different, ways we are held accountable are different, liaibilities are there that weren't before.....it's just a tough time to be in education. Yet it's also exciting; we are doing many things that are providing our kids with practice in critical thinking, in really learning about a subject versus surface learning of a lot of subjects. We do much more hands-on learning, we provide students with many more choices in reading and writing; math is now taught very differently and very much hands-on (and for the most part, it's great; but there's issues).....we are more aware of the different needs kids come to school with and more programs and interventions are being developed to help them versus just letting them ride through or shoving them aside out of lack of information on what to do with them. Education is evolving and will continue to - you must be prepared to see changes - some seem like pendulum swinging, but really it's about trying innovative techniques and keeping what's good and moving on with what's not as good - the kids are learning and are becoming more aware of what they know and better communicators. Now do I think it's like this everywhere? No, it's not even perfectly like this where I am, but we are moving towards it....please be patient with those in the trenches, get involved with your school board or even your child's classroom so you can see and understand what's going on. Speak up for what doesn't seem right, but learn the reasons why some things are being done. Education should be a team relationship between parents, staff and students......with all functioning well, students can perform to their best.......

Well, I had no idea this would turn into an essay on education.......I'm not the best writer, but at least you see where I'm coming from - the media may not always portray it so, but there is a LOT of good happening in our schools as well as the bad!

Anyway I'm home and off to chat with the chicks at Scrap That Moment!