I’ve thought a lot about what Rhina said on Thursday…what if an outside observer, new to our educational settings observed my classroom.  What would they think was happening and what are my students actually learning?  How do I help my students construct meaning from specialized lesson plans in various content areas?  This year as I began teaching second grade and familiarizing myself with all the standards, I became somewhat overwhelmed with all there was to teach and master.  An administrator’s blanket response was to “integrate” the curriculum.  Sounds good in theory except when you get to the point in the year when you are being asked to teach about the Solar System and Native Americans at the same time!  There were some loose connections to be made in terms of constellations and the Native Americans use of the sun and moon but to most second graders (and outside observers) the two subjects did not integrate well. 

If I look at my basic values and belief that it is my responsibility to prepare my students to be successful, productive members of society, then my students’ knowledge of basic skills and the ability to read and write fluently should be priorities in my curriculum.  That is a truth in second grade.  Everything that I do revolves around those requisite skills.  Along the way, I am also teaching my students to be problem solvers, to ask critical questions, and to analyze information.  Hopefully they are also learning about kindness, respect, and friendship…qualities that will not help them achieve a perfect score on the CRCT, or earn me the status of Master Teacher, but will better enable them to be successful, contributing, HAPPY, members of society!