It always gets that way at the end of the nine weeks period at school. That is when I get involved in student assessments and various other forms of paper work. Let's see; there is assessment data to enter in the spreadsheet, grades to complete, and report card entries to make. After report card entries are complete, the report cards have to be verified. After verification they are printed. After printing they have to have more information manually entered on them. Why in this day and age that information can't be entered on the computer I will never know. After all is said and done the report cards are sent home. And then I wait for parents to return them. And I wait. And I wait. Some never come back. Sometimes I wonder if they ever made it home.
Now that report cards are finished it is time to plan the next nine weeks. The kindergarten teachers gather and spread the Scope and Sequence for the 3rd Nine Weeks. Let's see there is Language Arts, Math, Science, and Social Studies. We begin by looking at the various objectives/learning standards in each subject and see which ones overlap. That way we can plan to teach those objectives at the same time and hopefully double the impact. We plot the learning standards on a calender and try to map out the entire nine weeks.
You see, in Texas we are blessed with the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS). This is the wonderful test by which life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness is measured. At least in Texas public schools. Teachers must be sure that the students are prepared for this assessment and life in general. The TAKS has various objectives that have to be covered. To assist in this endeavor we are blessed with the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS). The TEKS are divided by grade level and subject matter. The TEKS have broken down the TAKS into more precise and logical learning standards.
Wow! During the 3rd nine weeks at kindergarten we have 127 individual TEKS learning standards that we have to address. Of the 127 standards, 67 are in Language Arts alone.
After mapping out the learning standards we then double check to make sure that we have each one on the calendar. It wouldn't do to get to the end of the nine weeks and then discover that we did not cover everything.
Once the double checking is finished we get to plan our lessons and write our plans for the following week. Next week in Science we are going to do some experiments that involve 3 to 4 steps and changes that take place with the application of heat. We are tying in Math by working on sequencing up to 4 steps. Fun! We are going to be using cornstarch one day and gelatin on another. FUN FUN!
Having said all of this; that explains why my desk here at the house is a mess. There is a stack of mail about four inches deep and I can't even begin to count the number of magazines that have not even been looked at yet.
I'm going now and will begin to attack the mountain. No doubt that I will have a full trash can and paper shredder tomorrow.
© 2008 Barry T Horst
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