Week 2 Comments to Catherine

EDM613 MAC - Week 2 Reading - The Art of Possibility

Where will your A take you in your world of possibilities?

Our children start in life with no stifling concerns about expectations. They are free from those constraints and it is reflected in their creative self expression. Unfortunately, that begins to change as they enter the world of education. Grades become the measuring stick of their growth, instead of pencil marks on a door frame or pictures of their imagination in play. Conversations change from, "Let's pretend we're on an adventure...," to, "Why did you fail that test?" It's no wonder so many children become disengaged in school, and from their families. They are being asked to perform within the box of expectations rather that thinking outside the box and in a world of possibilities. With the pace of technology changing the world we live in, we NEED to encourage the wider thinking outside the box, filled with the potential of creativity, and ever expansive thinking. The future does not exist inside the archaic box of measurement of the past. Rather than admonishing our children and ourselves for not conforming to the measurement standards that are so rigid, we need to encourage them and ourselves to, as Jim Morrison sang, "Break on through to the other side." Exploration and growth has always depended on the belief that more is out there, we need to go and find it. Ask the early explorers, scientists, philosophers and artists. I'm not quite sure how that was lost in guiding our children, students, and each other, but we need to believe in it again.

4Shikes said...

Catherine, In my district, grades k-2 have a standards based report card. They are assessed on standards and not given letter grades. In grade 3, we make the "big switch" to letter grades. I spend a huge amount of time explaining at conferences that a "c" means the child is working at grade level and meeting the expectations. The proverbial "a" means they have to be exceeding the expectations laid out by the district. There is such a stigma placed on the grades, parents are quick to forget that their child needs to meet standards.