This is an edited version, I wrote this originally Tuesday night, for posting Wednesday, and wasn’t awake enough to edit for “time sense” — thanks for being patient!
Next month (tomorrow) begins national poetry month. On the drive home from school Tuesday it hailed, snowed, rained, sleeted and was generally stormy. Somehow, poetry felt like the only way to respond. Here are a few pieces of doggerel I composed yesterday evening.
white flakes mingle
with falling cherry petals
w-s-i-p-n-r-t-i-e-n-r-g
intermixed
according to these test results
I am a statistical
improbability
teaching is my passion
learning is my lot
why do you need these numbers
to see the child in front of you?
Yes, the focus of today’s instruction was standardized testing. The potential benefits, the all-too-common harms, and the ways the design and implementation — along with the uses — of the tests either support or challenge social inequities. Good discussions, but exhausting.
Enjoy national poetry month.
Here are two links for your enjoyment: