September 08, 2005

How Much is Too Much?

As I watch a deer saunter across my front yard...

So, today is the big curriculum meeting at Son's school. I got a call from another mother this morning, wondering if I was going to go; she said she needed me there to back her up. Our kids are in first grade and already have had math tests on content I guess they aren't grasping. I don't know, Son came home with an A- on his test...and he's been doing great on all the papers he's brought home so far.

Now the big stink is a ten word spelling list. I know my son can do it, he's already proving himself to be a great reader with a capacity for memorization and comprehension (like his mother!) so I'm not all that worried.

I wonder, though, if these teachers are aiming more at teaching towards the proficiency tests and not the individual student's needs. I know, I've heard that "No Child Left Behind" won't work, I don't need a lecture in that. But still, how much is too much? I realize that schools have changed in the (gulp) thirty years since I was in first grade, but if some kids can do the work, why shouldn't they? Is my son going to be somewhat held back, possibly bored, because the class has to slow down for those few who don't grasp the new concepts?

I don't like the whole "teaching to a test" line that I hear from a lot of teachers, albeit secondary teachers. I don't want every student swept up as a collective group, I do want individual attention, not "hurry up and learn this so you can take a test."

*sigh*

This is why I'm going today, to ask those questions. Parent-teacher conferences begin later this month...we'll see.

Show Comments »