Less is more--I have this written down several times in the margins of Accountability in Action, and I like that it is the basis for Schmoker. When the students honestly understand and are proficient in the basic skills, then we can take it further. I am glad to see Schmoker and Reeves so much in line.
Schmoker mentions several things that we have done that were positive and produced results. He talks about the importance of congratulating and recognizing the teachers and students for being on target (p. 20). I feel like that helped our building with teacher buy-in and also motivated students to do their best which resulted in improvements in their literacy.
Coming in to JB this year, I didn’t feel like this was a school with a lot of fluff going on. I understand the desire to want to keep it even more concise, especially until we are ready to take the next step. However, I wonder about cutting some of the extras that do help motivate students and do help the students obtain opportunities to gain experiences and build on background knowledge.
We’ve also talked about unwrapping the standards; it makes complete sense to condense these and focus on less (less done more efficiently and effectively). I agree with Rachel that this could be something for the DRT team to work on.
I think that more teachers will be accepting of this approach if we center it on the fact that it isn’t more work for them. It doesn’t involve more of their time to create those “movie reviews, video skits, wikis, silent movies, or clay animation figures.” They need to put the time consuming activities aside and focus on the reading and writing (and speaking) in their curriculum. It is the glue that holds all subjects together inside our walls. It is the best way for students to learn.
It will also help when all teachers are in complete understanding that we are not asking MORE from them. This is all part of good teaching and we will see results.
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