First grade teacher Justin Minkel's latest blog post for Education Week is a must read. It provoked excellent grade-level conversations during professional development Monday. It impacted our school so much that our mission statement was ammended to now read, "We will cultivate life-long learners through rigorous learning experiences and support for the whole child so they can live the lives they dream."
Published Online: December 30, 2014
The Promise and Peril of Turning Student Learning Into a Number
Students can set goals for themselves, and teachers can focus on growth when students celebrate their results.
—Justin Minkel
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I got an email from a former student yesterday that filled me with both joy and doubt.
Ava is an English-learner who lives in poverty, works incredibly hard, and loves school. She’s in 6th grade now, and her family of three sisters has swelled to five sisters with the births of little Magdalena and Yesica.
Ava was part of a home library project I did with my students in 2nd and 3rd grade, and she wrote to congratulate me on receiving a $100,000 grant this month to take the project to scale with 1,800 students. Here is what she wrote:
Hi, Mr. Minkel,
I wanted to ask you a question and that question is how did you start the home library project? That is a very good project and thanks to that project I am a very good reader. In my MAP test at the end of 5th grade my score was 232 and I went above my goal by 11 points. I still remember that in the beginning of 2nd grade my DRA level was 16 and at the end of 3rd grade I was in DRA 50. You know I re-read The BFG and took the journey with Sophie and The BFG again. Well bye and remember I miss you.
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