AuburnChick's Adventures

How do you define progress?

According to dictionary.com, you can define it as, “Forward or onward movement toward a destination.”

When you are a teacher, progress is usually defined by the gains a student makes on a high-stakes test…for instance FCAT or NRT.

Before I started teaching, I ignorantly accepted this as the “final” measure of achievement.

I.

Was.

Wrong.

As you probably already know, I teach intensive reading.

One of my classes is comprised entirely of ESE students.

Not only are my students adjusting to the newness of high school, which involves many new social and academic pressures, but they are facing challenges associated with teenager-dom.  Many of them also face difficulties at home…economically and relationally.

They are helping redefine the meaning of progress.  I have learned to define progress through seemingly simple things that I’ve observed my students doing:

• Mastering a procedure in class
• Willingly adhering to class rules
• Refraining from moving one’s desk away from the person that’s been assigned as his or her shoulder partner
• Telling me that I must be a good mom if I have children in college (in this student’s words, “You had to do something right if your children went to college.)
• Hearing this same student further acknowledge, in front of the entire class,  that I never give up on my students
• Scheduling “appointments” to advocate for themselves (this is a huge sign of maturity…especially on the part of a ninth grader)
• Looking me in the eye when I speak to him or her
• Quieting the class down when it is apparent that I’m having a difficult day
• Holding other classmates accountable to help them succeed

As a result of the first three months of teaching this amazing group of children, I have come to understand that progress isn’t necessarily defined by the number of reading comprehension questions a student gets correct on a standardized test.

It can and SHOULD also be defined by the social gains…being considerate, respectful, and cooperative…made.

Those who have never worked in education may not understand why the mastery of social graces is so important and may erroneously believe that teachers’ jobs only involve imparting academic knowledge.

I beg to differ.

My students have taught me that social progress is imperative to academic progress.

Someone should ask dictionary.com to update its definition.

Filed under: Teaching | Tagged: progress, success, teaching | Leave a comment »