Kill the Purple Monster

If you are over 50, you can remember the smelly, purple worksheets and tests your teachers handed out. They were produced on a mimeograph machine. Do you remember the contents of any of those worksheets? Of course not. When I began teaching, my first principal implored us to "kill the purple monster" in order to save money on paper. We were to use the chalkboard instead. The mimeograph machine has been replaced with new high tech copiers and most textbooks come with an array of worksheets, TAKS practice materials, and tests just waiting to be copied and handed to not so eager students. When TAKS scores and school rankings are released we beat our chests about our gains or lament a drop in scores. We hail our students' achievement. Are student achievement and education the same thing? Is this the way to educate children? How does one measure the learning that takes place in a child when they plant a Discovery Garden, nurture it and then reap its harvest? Does a TAKS test tell us the what creative forces are stimulated in a child that learns to combine musical notes and create music? And what about the students that applies principles of physics to launch a rocket? The TAKS test cannot measure the intrinsic change that manifests itself in a child that has been exposed to out of the seat learning experiences. While we are forced to dance to the music mandated by lawmakers, we have to innovate our teaching to develop "educated" students. In Hunt, we continue to explore teaching strategies that will move students from paper pusher to creators, from test takers to innovators, and from lackadaisical to motivated. Worksheets are unlikely to totally disappear anytime soon but that doesn't prevent us from trying to slay the purple monster.

Just beginning

With the school year just starting, a new feature will appear on our website, The Superintendent's Blog. I am learning the basics and hope to be blogging soon.