Where I've been and where I'm going...

When I started this blog I promised myself that I would not be one of those people who goes great guns and then suddenly evaporates into thin air.  I probably started in the summer, because in looking at my number of posts per month, school starts and the evaporation process begins.

I am loving school this year.  Third grade could not suit me better.  I have a wonderful group of kids and parents, and more than any other year I feel as if we are all working toward a common goal.  That said, learning a new grade level is feeling a lot like being a first year teacher.  I rise at the crack of crazy, get to work by 7 and stay until late.  Weekends are a time to catch up on sleep and then dive back into preparing for the next week of learning.

A good friend and colleague shared this poem with me this morning.  It pretty much sums up my attitude toward reading, writing and test taking.  Just want to pass it on...

Revolution for the Tested

Write.

But don’t write what they tell you to.
Don’t write formulaic paragraphs
Counting sentences as you go
Three-four-five-Done.
Put your pencil down.

Don’t write to fill in lines.
For a weary scorer earning minimum wage
Handing out points for main ideas
Supported by examples
From the carefully selected text.

Write for yourself.
Write because until you do,
You will never understand
What it is you mean to say
Or who you want to be.
Write because it makes you whole.

And write for the world.
Because your voice is important.
Write because people are hurting
Because animals are dying
Because there is injustice
That will never change if you don’t.
Write because it matters.

And know this.
They’ll tell you it won’t make a difference,
Not to trouble over grownup things,
Just fill in the lines
And leave it at that.
Tell them you know the truth.
That writing is powerful.
Just one voice on the page
Speaks loudly.
And not only can a chorus of those united change the world.
It is the only thing that ever has.


Read.

But don’t read what they tell you to.
Don’t read excerpts, half-poems,
Carefully selected for lexile content,
Or articles written for the sole purpose
Of testing your comprehension.

Don’t read for trinkets,
For pencils or fast food coupons.
Don’t even read for M&M’s.
And don’t read for points.

Read for yourself.
Read because it will show you who you are,
Who you want to be some day,
And who you need to understand.
Read because it will open doors
To college and opportunity, yes,
And better places still…
Doors to barns where pigs and spiders speak,
To lands where anything is possible.
To Hogwarts and Teribithia,
To Narnia and to Hope.

Read for the world.
Read to solve its problems.
Read to separate reality from ranting,
Possibility from false promise.
And leaders from snake oil peddlers.
Read so you can tell the difference.
Because an educated person is so much harder
To enslave.

And know this.
They’ll say they want what’s best for you,
That data doesn’t lie.
Tell them you know the truth.
Ideas can’t be trapped in tiny bubbles.
It’s not about points
On a chart or a test or points anywhere.
And it never will be.

Copyright 2010 ~ Kate Messner


I'll be around.  Thanksgiving is just around the corner and I have a few house projects in the works.  Things should be settling down soon...I think ; o )