..Time Flies..

It is amazing how fast time goes when you don't have time to pay attention to it moving on. About a week and a half ago I started a new semester. I am taking nine credits and only two classes. One of my classes is a 6 credit class and I am in the schools from 8 in the morning until 3 in the afternoon. This means that Adam, or Dianna Funk, watches Ellie during the day. Luckily it is only on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday! Another lucky thing that happened was that the school district that I am in cut off the last week of school and is having a hard lock down so the teachers hand in their keys on the last day of school and then aren't let back in until the fall when they come back to set up. And they are starting school a week later and ending a week earlier next year, all to try and stay in their 3 million dollar budget cut. They also now are only giving the school a certain amount of money to pay for sick leave and subs. Once that is gone they will just have to combine classes to cover sick days, which means 50 elementary kids in a class!!!! That is outrageous! Anyway, I have been pumping to keep my milk supply up for Ellie, but it is a problem because Ellie is not willing to take a bottle. She just starves herself and waits for me to get home. So I am saving up milk, and it's not being used... but that's okay because she's not really underfed, and Adam makes sure that she does have solids and does his best to get her to drink some milk. My other class is on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. It is entitled assessment and evaluation. I know sounds horrible right? It's not! I love it! Especially because my teacher is Sister Johnson and she is a really really good teacher. I have realized that assessment and evaluation is a vital course that needs to be added as a requirement for all teacher education programs. If someone asked you why there are tests in school, what would your answer be? Would it be, because that's a teachers job is to test us and give us a grade? Would your answer be, because the teachers want to punish us? For most of you, yes, that would be your answer. Which is sad. That isn't the purpose of assessment. The purpose of giving assessments and evaluating is to inform and drive your instruction. So I am loving this class because it is teaching me how to assess what my students have learned so that I know what I need to teach or reteach. Anyway, I think this has been a long two cents and I should do some homework. But I hope that you enjoyed it if you actually made it this far into the post! Hopefully, as one teacher I can make a difference in the lives of many many children.