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Kristen ND Wolf
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5 thoughts on “Kristen ND Wolf”
Welcome Kristen, we’re glad to have you.
Kristen, relatively speaking, we are neighbors! I live in Williston, ND. My youngest son, who will graduate next year, has his college hopes set on Bozeman. We will come out for a visit probably at the end of summer. 🙂
Kristen said:
…I have been asked to provide more documentation, assessments and curriculum maps with lessons to my admin to justify my work, and I am feeling overwhelmed and misunderstood….
This is most important, of critical importance.
Everyone takes it as natural that, if a teacher wants to be in the good graces of those who employ her, she would of course provide such documentation, assessments and curriculum maps, or risk a slap on the wrists at one end or firing at the other. Thus control is maintained and teachers are put in strait jackets and have legitimate complaints like Kristen’s above.
Most teachers believe in the “unspoken policy” described above without thinking that there are options. Those who see options are typically labeled as radical.
But in giving in to the machine, teachers make a critical error. They allow themselves to be bullied.
(Not that the forced lesson plans and curriculum documents ever get read or thought about in the first place. How many times has anybody in our PLC been confronted over fake curriculum that they submitted in order to just hand in the required documents? I’ve gotten away with it for 38 years.)
Great to meet you, Kristen! With your attitude and enthusiasm, you will be a dynamite TPRS teacher and probably already are one!! I like what you said about taking Krashen’s work to heart. I have to not lose heart when I see how deflated and unhappy and obstinate and non-participatory kids in my classes can be. I always think, is it me? I don’t have the answer yet. There are moments of joy and celebration, but sometimes there are days and days and days of almost no-one looking happy at all, let alone loving what we are doing. In spite of all that, the practices really work and students gain a lot of language. Then they start pressuring me to skip a level, which I’m not supposed to let them do. Then they pressure me some more, and I say I’m sorry but no, and I try to explain why even though it’s easy, it is actually working. While in the background I’m furiously trying to build my own skills to meet the needs of all these diverse learners.
I’m glad we have each other here on the blog.
You folks just make me smile and feel as though I am not alone in this journey! Thank you for reading and helping me to know it is a process and we have each other. As one wise one said (Dr. Gordon Neufeld, aka one of my many heros….) “Life is hard but we have each other.”
Check out his talk here: “Why kids need us more than peers” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlMkWJY5T_w
OR “Making sense of anxiety in children” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hymwvaZ9oKg
I think you can all relate to his gentle, yet powerful messages!
Thank you for being the light!