Student behavior By Doni

Tuesday I needed to go to the bathroom. I asked the nurse to watch my class so I could go. My kids were so bad while I was out of the room that the nurse said she would never watch them again. I take away recess, give them silent lunch (they talk anyway), send notes hoem (I get promises that the parents will handle it - they don't; or I get excuses because the child is ADHD).

I think it all boils down to stress. We are putting a tremendous amount of stress on these kids to raise test scores. All fun activities in my school have been cut. We are to teach non-stop all day from the start of homeroom right up until the dismissal bell rings. I believe if you do not engage the students with interesting and fun learning activities misbehavior is bound to follow. Even our kindergarten kids back talk and misbehave. They no longer have play time or naps. It's work, work, work! This pressure to raise the test scores is ruining our children. They don't care about the scores until the year their scores count for promotion. The parents don't sympathize with us, because they see us as the problem. their child is bored, and it's our fault for doing boring teach to the test work (never mind it's been mandated down on us from people who don't teach).

I hate it! I try to do as many fun things as I can, but my job is on the line come test time. The teachers are stressed, the kids are stressed, the parents are stressed, and nobody seems to care. No amount of programs like "Love and Logic" (I too attended the infomercial) will change this. High stakes testing ruins the education environment. Until we get rid of this teach the test mentality we're going to see more and more student apathy and misbehavior.