Second teacher addressed our OCPS Florida School Board last night! Way to go Tiffany Taylor Dear Educator Family and Parents, It was an honor to speak beside Darcy Huguenin Schalk tonight at the School Board Agenda Review Meeting. We hope that by sharing, more teachers and parents will know they have a voice to rally against the dishonor and inappropriateness that is saturating our public school systems. #powertothepeople My name is Tiffany Taylor and I am a PreKindergarten Teacher at a blessed little place, Grand Avenue Primary Learning Center. I am here speaking today for several reasons-the number one reason being the faces you see on the screen. I speak for those children who enter my classroom full of joy, wonder, and excited to come to “big school”. Those little ones who begin a journey that will last for 13 more years of their lives, and who anticipate the same active, appropriate learning experiences that we share each day in PreK. Experiences that honors their unique interests, intelligences, and strengths. They don’t suspect that their learning will soon be driven by test after test in the name of accountability and “high standards”. I speak for the families I serve that trust and count on me to care for their little ones and instill a love and courage of wonder and learning, They may not know the power or voice they have to stand up to the harmful practices that are besieging our schools and, ultimately, being mandated upon their children. I speak for my colleagues who view themselves as disrespected, incompetent, and uncaring non-professionals. And, I speak for myself, as my heart and conscience calls me to do more than just lament the loss of joy and authenticity in education, but maybe to do something out of my comfort zone, to share something, anything, that might serve to strengthen your determination and courage to stand up to what is happening inside our schools. As a teacher for twenty years, never have I been so saddened at the loss of heart-and-child-centered teaching in the name of school improvement and reform. I fully understand that standards, assessment, reflection, and adaption of our craft is part of our profession. And I understand that there are factors outside my control that contribute to that. But these factors should be developmentally appropriate and work in harmony for the betterment of each child’s education. And, please don’t mistake developmentally appropriate for having “soft expectations”. They are practices that honor and build upon where a child is, without punitive demands. What’s going on in education is not honoring children. I want to share briefly my experiences that have led to me standing here. I began my career as a Kindergarten Teacher with the support of the amazing OCPS Early Childhood Team and mentor teachers and colleagues. I was able to further develop my understanding of young children and how they learn through my own personal pursuits and through the professional opportunities that abounded at the district level. The focus was truly on the whole child and the whole teacher, and the results were happier, more creative, more well-rounded, socially, emotionally, and cognitively intelligent little ones, and grown-ups. That is my understanding of what 21st century skills are. When the focus began to turn away from the unique child and on to the standardized one, I left the classroom to serve at the district as a member of the same Early Childhood Team that once was a key part of my professional growth. I worked primarily with PreKindergarten and Kindergarten teachers, coaching, providing professional development, and mostly working side-by-side in their classrooms. Working in over half of our elementary schools further opened my eyes to the damage standardization and over-testing was doing-especially in those schools with the most needs and least resources. It was, and continues to be, heart-hurting. Each year I felt less empowered to share my knowledge and passion for child-centered teaching, and more standardized myself. I made the decision to join the Grand Avenue family so that I could continue advocating for children back at the school level, “in the trenches”, alongside the folks doing the hardest and most meaningful work. I love my Grand Avenue family and all that we do to educate the whole child-those little ones whose faces shine above you, and whom I speak for today. Those diverse experiences and perspective bring me back to my purpose of speaking here today and has solidified my belief that those highest in power in public education have got it all wrong, intentionally or not. My concern, in a nutshell, is that all of these current trends of testing, retesting, and testing some more are harmful, HARMFUL to our students, especially our youngest. I have personally seen 5 and 6 year olds melting down in tears and tantrums, becoming physically sick, a kind of anxiety and upset that NO 60 month old child should experience in the name of helping them be “college and career ready”. We know that a child’s brain functions best when they feel safe and loved. How valid are assessments that cause a child to downshift from the state of the brain where cognitive thinking is rigorously applied, to the state of their brain where survival is their only focus. My own students’ performance on these standardized tests were often an inaccurate capture of their learning-the data I collected from observation and more authentic assessments could discount much of what these said my children did not and did know. The harm extends to those caring for our children, too. During my time at the district, I connected weekly with teachers at every elementary school in our county. I still receive emails and messages from teachers decrying what is being asked of our youngest and wondering what they can do to meet these mandates in order to retain employment, while still staying true to what they know is best for their little ones-creating an environment of safety and nurture, and child-centered experiences that inspire a love for learning. The stress felt from state and district mandates, lesson plan and assessment requirements, and other items that deplete necessary emotional, mental, and physical energy from our presence with children is overwhelming. To be able to be healthy and wholly present with the students we teach is essential to good instruction. Joy and passion and plain common sense are disappearing from education-and this negatively impacts every facet of the school experience. So, with all this said, what do I propose for a solution? First, I hope you feel encouraged and empowered by the growing tide of School Board opposition to the inappropriate amount of testing. It seems more folks in local power are standing up every day. I respectfully ask you to be brave and courageous in your decision-making, keeping my children and all of our children at the forefront of your thinking. I want you to know that teachers are working as hard as they can, yet we feel dishonored and that a pervasive divide and disconnect exists between ourselves and those in power. It’s exhausting and disheartening. We are depending on you for support and encouragement and empowerment. You are our most direct connection to those in legislative and policy influence. I invite you to strengthen that connection by spending more time in our classrooms, talking to our children, talking to us-allowing us to show you what we know and do each and every day that goes beyond numbers on a page. Last, I ask that you look closely at creative ways to use existing county resources-both financially and in persons-so that our teaching and assessment isn’t influenced by sources that don’t have the best interest of the child in mind. I’d like to end with a quote from one of the most revered and knowledgeable experts in the field of early childhood education. Years of research and child-watching and child-honoring make Maria Montessori a voice to heed: One test of the correctness of educational procedure is the happiness of the child. - Dr. Maria Montessori I ask you to, please, remember the happiness and joy of learning for each child as we enter a time that could produce real change for the better. Thank you.
Posted on: Wed, 15 Oct 2014 11:47:50 +0000
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