FEAR NOT!!! Nothing of the sort happened......I just found out that we are going to be having a {baby}.....OMG......so I've been exhausted.....on top of the normal exhaustion that every teacher experiences every.single.day!
Now.....the new addition to our little family IS good news, but not quite the good news that I wanted to share with you today. The good news is........
MY KIDS ARE FINALLY GETTIN' IT, Y'ALL!!
We have been taking practice STAAR (our state mandated test, State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness) tests and they are SOOOO getting it!
You know that panic that sets in, around January/February, after you've taken a simulation of some sort and your kids didn't do as well as you had hoped and you begin thinking, "They are never going to get this!!!" or "What is wrong with me? Why aren't my kids learning?" OR.....the worse self-talk in the book....."I'm the {WORST} teacher......EVER!!!"
Well......that fear/panic/feeling-that-makes-you-want-to-give-up-and-work-at-Dillards came over me in January, after our simulations. I didn't know what to do. I felt like I was doing a good job, and overall, the kids were doing a good job in class. I knew I was providing consistent time and energy into problem solving for math and I knew that I was devoting time to book club AND guided reading. I was TERRIFIED that I wasn't doing something right.
THEN.....we took another practice test in February, and ALL my kids passed the math test and 94% passed the reading!!! WHOO HOO!!!
I was finally feeling like we were making some real gains.
THEN.....we took another practice test in March... (yes, this seems like a lot of assessing, but we have to build their stamina to be ready for a 46 question, 4-hour assessment that's coming in April).
In this assessment.....(and they are getting harder each time), 94% passed math and 88% passed the reading. They are doing SOOOOOO well.
I say this to you because I know how we all feel this time of year. It's such a stressful time and we are all incredibly worried that our kids are not going to be ready by the time they need to be ready.
THEY. WILL. BE. READY........I promise!
It's like one day, the light bulb came on.....and now, there's no stopping us. I keep raising my expectations and they keep meeting them. My first expectation was a score of 70, then 75, and now 80 and the majority of my class hits that mark on each assessment.
They are such little brilliant, hard-working geniuses!!! Love my kiddos!!!
P.S. I am starting Charlotte's Web for our book club when we come back for spring break and my kids could NOT be more excited about it. I promise to blog about how that goes.....
Enjoy your Spring Break (and if you're not on Spring Break yet....hang in there.....it's just around the corner!)
Keep livin' the dream,
