Dawdling Time
Rush! Rush! Rush! TCAP’s (Tennessee’s BIG tests) are coming next week. Time for the last minute panic throughout grades 2-4 while teachers worry that they have “covered” everything. Fretting over the fact that we have over 30% mobility rate and a huge number of children moved into our school in the last week with no exposure to multiplication, homonyms, regrouping, etc. Worrying about whether we were able to overcome the side effects of the severe change in poverty from 39-52% in a year of our student body. Or the special ed change from 6 % to 12%.
But, what was the good part of this week: seeing students taking the time to dawdle in the library while they searched for the perfect books. We embrace dawdling! Searching, thinking, looking for that perfect match, those are the things I want to see happening. Students working together across grades to seek books, make recommendations for books that they have read, and exploring our online public access catalog (KC). Children having fun. Questioning. Comparing prior experiences to their desire to learn. Life’s tests are much more accurate. I am very proud of what our children do in our elementary school and in public.
Today, while I was entering the new grocery store in my neighborhood, a tenth grader ran over to hug me and ask if I remembered her from 4th grade. We reconnected and enjoyed remembering her favorite authors. As I walked away to shop, I heard her tell her supervisor “THAT was my librarian!” I am proud to work with these students and I am committed that none of these children will be left behind. I’m talking real life here. I will be here in the community for these children long beyond the 5 years they spend at my elementary. I just wish they had ALL taken the time to dawdle and delve more.
