This has been a pretty ridiculous fall for sickness. A little over 1/3 of our tiny school's population was wiped out last week due to a flu-like virus (not H1N1, they think...). It has been a serious struggle to catch all the kids up. I know they're stressed out and feel completely lost. Even though most of the kids who were out from school filled out homework requests and had assignments sent home to them, they missed the in-class instruction they need to practice the skills the homework requires. We have a fast-thinking math teacher on our team who devised a plan to get to all the kids we need to get to. I don't know how those math people do it. I am most definitely left brained!
We have started to get down some of the literary terminology kids need to discuss different works. I think the hardest thing for them to understand is the idea that there are three main genres of literature; drama, poetry and prose. Prose is the most baffling to them. It's a new term for them to ingest, and prose includes so many different types of writing it almost seems like there need to be more categories.
This whole sickness outbreak has had me thinking a lot about slowing down and not rushing through sections of the curriculum just to stay on track. It is so tempting to push the kids to get information down quickly, skill and drill. I am fighting that! Last week I took a long look at how I have set up units for this year. Logistically, it seems like there is never enough time. I think all teachers feel like that.
Wasn't there recent talk of expanding the school year and the school day? I don't know that I would ever be against that. It's going to be the worst for the kids. I think teachers might actually breathe easier. All these state standards and state tests... Maybe a longer school year would take some of the stress out of high stakes testing. What do you think?
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