Thread by @BenjaminASmith

Surface area v volume is happening omg grade 3 #tmwyk

Is it wrong to be proud of your child, if the source of your pride is a comparison of her to others?

Knowing that she’s 6th grade in number sense, 4th in operations (hints of 7 w/ negatives) and 6th grade in geometry

tells me

ONLY what to teach

NOT WHERE MY KID IS

and

ABSOLUTELY NOTHING about any other child.

I can confirm that she’s proud of herself.

@lastpositivist I have no idea what pride and humility are. But I’m thinking about it.

#MessyMath artifacts from a Northwest Florida dinner table.

Btw, the squares represent 4 squares each, according to Cora, so the number of squares on the outside are 40, and, after discussion, the volume is 8 cubes. She points out you can divide the rectangular prism into as many cubes as you want. #tmwyk

The point of knowing this is to know what to ask next, what to suggest next, what problems might provoke her to think.

The 4:1 square ratio suggests 7th grade geometry achievement.

But again, this tells me nothing about the value of my child compared to any other, nor the quality of her school , nor her teachers’ abilities.

This is what the standardized testing gets wrong. #soapbox

This is why Florida’s approach to school grades is wrong, immoral. @EducationFL @FloridaEA @FLBaloney @BillyTownsendEd @richardcorcoran @GovRonDeSantis

I am an expert. I can do this with every child k-10. I can identify where they are in their learning and love them forward. This isn’t hubris. I’m a professional with 12 year’s experience and two master’s degrees.

But classes are too big for me to do this. And then it’s either me or the system that’s flawed. What do you think? Is it me? Or is it that Florida has underfunded education forever?

(Btw I mentioned achievement my kid has that isn’t in evidence above, ie, number sense, operations. This is based on other conversations.)

Yesterday I had to put in writing that 39 of my students were “unsuccessful” this year on their Profress Monitoring Plans, based on my professional judgment in combination with Florida/Santa Rosa/my principal’s expectations of me.

I cried in the shower for thirty minutes.

My students are not failures. They are just wherever they are in their math journey.

I know that we started testing everyone because we don’t want to leave any child behind.

I don’t. Of course not.

But they’re only behind if you compare them.

#Accountability means I have to tell kids they were unsuccessful, which I do not believe.

FYI—and this isn’t for the sake of my job, believe it or not—I don’t think my principals or even my school board would have it this way.

We’re all forced to be unwitting accomplices to just to be there for the kiddos.

By the way, I was in the last group of teachers to get a Professional Service Contract (tenure) in Florida. That was canceled in my 4th year.

Hyperbole time:

I’m the last teacher in Florida who can say this.

Oh, did you notice she was right about the surface area but wrong about the volume? Standardized test says she’s only halfway successful here.

So what’s the point?

Is she deficient?

SHE’S WORKING ON THIS MATH.

So what are standards to you?

Are standards guides for teachers, or tools of punishment? Should A schools be rewarded, and D schools suffer? That’s how we’re doing it.

I don’t think we should.

And if Floridians don’t start electing state level politicians who believe in teachers, I don’t know how to hope.