The literacy specialist who visits our school and district shared with us an article title, “Every Child, Every Day,” that talks about the six things that every student should experience in the ELA classroom every day. She stated that we should strive to have students do those things in our classroom each day.
I sat there and stared at that article for a long time. For some reason, it made my teaching seem inadequate, and that I somehow was falling short in what I should be doing. In some of my classes, I was lucky if I managed to get students to listen as I read, much less read a book they chose and comprehend on their level. Plus, I need them to write? All this in 55 minutes? While accommodating 15 IEPs? And monitoring 22 No Contact Orders? How? When?
Truthfully, this is the first year where I feel like I’m merely refereeing instead of teaching. Many of these students do not want to try. They misbehave and avoid the work, and in the long run, they are hurting themselves. They are losing out on an education. They are missing opportunities to expand their world.
All of this leaves me to wonder whether or not I’m doing them an injustice by not trying to squeeze all six of these elements into my daily lesson? Did I read to them? Did they pick a book to read? Did they write about something personal? Did they comprehend what they read? It’s not easy. They don’t make it easy. Not at all.
