I Want Kdis to Think

I want kids to think.  This is what is most important.

This statement was shared during a classroom visit yesterday.  It is a simple but yet powerful statement of what matters most.  We want students to be able to think for themselves.  We want students to think each and every day and spend time observing, reflecting and making sense of the world around them.

I hope we do not lose sight of this goal.  I feel as if the past few weeks my focus has been on preparing for the PARCC exams and working with instructors to craft Student Growth Objectives (SGOs).  A significant amount of talk has been about the new teacher evaluation system and specifically, evaluation percentages and developing algorithms to judge teacher effectiveness.

Again, I hope we do not lose sight of what matters most and that is helping mold independent and confident thinkers and as a former colleague used to say, those who live a wide-awake life.