“Focus” is the leadership topic for this week…something I have been doing to the max during this achievement testing period in our school. My attention has been focused upon several things in particular. We have updated our ITBS testing to a new edition which brought the norms up to the 2017 level. The tests we have owned and used for years have been based upon the norms of 2005.
I was a little nervous about this change, especially since we had such a strange year with the Covid Pandemic making virtual learning necessary from March through May. However, as I am digesting all the information we are gaining about our students and their learning this past year, I am feeling very good. Students who were in attendance in our school last year (yes, this includes the virtual period) not only didn’t lose ground…they are scoring very high compared to the national norms. This is exciting to me!
I have always focused upon the learner and the curriculum. Our corporation is based upon matching learning objectives to our learners’ needs. It appears that our staff has carried out this mission faithfully. What has amazed me is that these updated norms show just how advanced our teaching methods and objectives are compared to the majority of schools. Perhaps that is a good reason for schools to hire and/or keep older teachers…for we might bridge the gap between learning objectives in place when the United States was #1 among nations of the world in education rather than the very low standing we find ourselves in today.
I laugh and say that I want to be sure our students are as smart as their grandparents were when they were in school. So, I keep my focus upon those objectives which are universal and necessary regardless of changes in our society. We focus upon the processes of thinking, application of skills, and synthesizing information and creating new products.
Yes, we must deal with our students’ focusing issues daily in our classes. All of our teachers work hard to help increase the attention span of our students. Probably the biggest challenge we have is convincing our students that it is necessary to take notes, to memorize and remember important facts for immediate reference. The majority of today’s young people believe that they will always have the internet close at hand to answer any question they may have. This just isn’t true to life.
The exposure to slick media productions has removed our youth from viewing mistakes or mishaps happening right before their eyes. I remember many live TV productions I viewed as a child in which it was common to see and hear bloopers…and to watch how the persons involved got themselves out of the mistakes. Today’s children do not understand dealing with such situations. Everything they see is perfectly edited and remarkable! It is for these reasons we require all of our students to get out of their comfort zones and to try new tasks and challenges. Improvisations at the secondary level also teach them to think on their feet!
As I continue to focus upon the report I am preparing about how we have achieved during this pandemic year, I am pleased with the preliminary results we are seeing. It confirms what we believe: continuous progress learning works! Kay