Standards

 

Standards are the end goal of learning. Curriculum is the way to get to the standards. In my service learning classroom I have seen the teacher focus a lot on the Math standards. Because of the time frame I was there I really only saw the classroom work on Math. Often the teacher would discuss with her 5th grade class the Standardized tests they would have to take and the work they did each morning would help them do well on those tests. 

It seems like this type of learning can go two ways. One is that it's successful and the other is that it's not. Due to the crowded classrooms in our schools, I worry that this type of testing doesn't meet each child's needs appropriately. The teacher mentioned to me once that my daughter used to be good at Math until I started attending the classroom, which confused me because my daughters testing and scores since 3rd grade have shown she's always behind. I don't think the teacher was able to focus on my daughters needs because it's important to get the whole class to the same place and that is daunting when the classrooms are so full. 



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