During my first year, we had a 50 minute period at the end of the day. This "Advisor/Advisee" period was suppossed to be a mentor situation where we had 15 to 20 students and worked on interesting enrichment activities. After two weeks of school, each teacher had 30 students in their class and was handed test prep lesson plans.
Social studies, since it is not tested in the 7th grade, is expendible, according to the powers that be in my school. Over the course of the year, my students missed at least 2 full weeks of my content due to pull-outs, going over test prep, and discussing individual test scores in my class time.
Students in these situations felt the same as I did. They saw the material that I taught taking the backseat to test scores. I saw students disengaging and devaluing their work as they were seen as numbers.
I have students like Derek and Collin in my classes. Sometimes they cause problems because of their frustration. Sometimes they just shut down and do their own things. Those charateristics demonstrated by those two students are present in all of us, teachers, students and, although it doesn't seem like it, administrators.
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