A Call to Speak Out!

When I read the comments of one primary teacher, "I know it's developmentally inappropriate, but I've got to do it" (Wohlwend, 2009, p. 345), my immediate response was to be moved nearly to tears of empathy and frustration.  How can the mandates handed down to teachers be in favor of teaching writing as merely a "task through which children demonstrate skill competency or display content knowledge, rather than communicate personal meanings or carry out social functions" (Wohlwend, 2009, p. 344), when writing can be something so much richer and more fulfilling?  Something that can give voices to students' imaginations and let them express themselves.  So what can we do, the concerned adults who see the children around us going through an educational system where mandates trump children's needs?  Dr. Caitlin Dooley makes a case for advocation, saying that if we--parents, teachers, and concerned citizens--don't speak out, how can we hope that change will happen spontaneously (Baker & Dooley, 2010)?  She calls for teachers and parents to work together and speak out about what's best for students.  And she asks for principals and administrators to tell the policy-makers when they feel that mandates aren't helping students.  Policy-makers she recommends to discover what achievement really is so that they can truly create an innovative way of assessing it.  And what might this assessment look like?  Well, Dooley mentions the video games that her children so enjoy and questions why assessment can't be more authentic, perhaps built into games that are engaging.  So what's our starting point?  Parents:  a good place might be to find out what your children know and what they're learning...and how they're learning it.  Teachers:  take note of where your students are and what practices are helpful--and which ones aren't--and ask parents to get involved with speaking up about what's good for the children you all care about so much.

Baker, E. A., & Dooley, C. (2010, March 1). "Teaching language arts in a high stakes era." Voice of Literacy. Retrieved from http://voiceofliteracy.org

Wohlwend, K. E. (2009, May).  "Dilemmas and discourses of learning to write:  Assessment as a contested site."  Language arts, 86(5), 341-351.