When I taught 6th grade it was difficult because I was asked to teach students to perform on standardized tests. Average test scores for each class were published in the local newspaper and everyone knew how well I taught my students. This put a lot of pressure upon me as the teacher. But since I knew I was only going to be teaching for the one year, and then quitting to stay home with my son, I didn’t teach so students could perform well on the tests. I tried to incorporate as much hands-on learning as possible, where students were … Continue reading →