If all the insects were to disappear from the Earth, within fifty years all life on Earth would end. If all human beings disappeared from the Earth, within fifty years all forms of life would flourish. Jonas Salk

      My wife is fascinated with this class and finds everyone’s blogs to be fantastic and entertaining. I read them once or twice and she browses when she has time.   We usually have depth discussions regarding the information.  This is great for me, as the student, since we are not able to chat about the material in class.  This week was very different, she was angry and sad and had a lot to say.  My wife, went to a small, all girl, Catholic High School and small, Catholic college.  Her educational life was much different than mine and it has effected her teaching.  Let me tell you why. 
    When she was in high school, having 36 girls in her entire graduating class, she had to make her own cheerleading outfit, costume, whatever you call it.  This project became a class, there were NO exams, NO papers to write, NO Child Left Behind.  She simply had to follow the directions and make her outfit.  Of course there were guidelines: it had to fit, the process had to be followed correctly,  there were time constraints and...wait for it....she had FUN!  Not only that, my wife can sew anything.  She internalized the lessons and learned a skill for life.  Isn’t that what our job should be?  Not to teach our students so they retain information for enough weeks to pass a test.  What is the point of that?   In Delpit’s chapter No Kinda Sense the Hair Braiding lesson followed this same vain.  Find something that the students can relate to and build up on it.
    This weeks readings focused on assessment.  It was the video of Ken Robinson that affected me the most.  His discussion of how our schools are squashing the creativity of students was dead on.  He believes that creativity is as important in education as literacy and we should treat it with the same status.  Luna would agree with this.  She tells us that the education system is failing so many children because they are not in the “mainstream”.  Our education system must educate the whole being.  We must understand that intelligence is unique to each person.  There are so many people who need to move, doodle, even hum,  in order to think.  I am one of those people. 
    Robinson brings up a great point. That children are not frightened of being wrong...”if you are not prepared to be wrong you will never be original”.  As adults we have lost this capacity.  We are afraid to be wrong, we are taught not to be wrong.  Assessments are a perfect example of this.    We are again, teaching to the test.  We are educating people out of their creativity, and so many students learn most effectively through the arts.  “Highly talented people think they are not smart because what they are good at is not valued”.  How sad is that?  
    We have shifted the way our system works since NCLB.  We no longer teach our students we assess them.  We are not taking the time to hear them.  We need to talk about life and what interests them, how else are they going to respond to us?  studetns see us as talking heads that spew out facts and expect them to be thrown back at us.  The story of Renata a high school teacher was touching.  I could relate to how she felt.  Constantly telling her class “we need to know this” for the test is wrong in so many ways.  We want our students to love learning, but if we do not love teaching they will know, and it will affect them.
      I began by saying that my wife's schooling has effected her teaching.  I would have loved to be in her class.  She incorporates fun where ever possible, and when time allows.  She was sad telling me that the "time" for fun has been seriously decreased and she can see the strain on her second graders little faces.  She told me she is bringing ice pops tomorrow...she wants to have some fun!