The Numbers Don't Define ME

Numbers. They're all around us and haunt us from time to time. Age. Weight. Height. Kids. Salary. And if you're a teacher like I am they can make you or break you when it comes to standardized testing.

This afternoon we received our much anticipated TAKS scores. Teaching came to an abrupt stop so that we could all meet in the lounge and look at NUMBERS. Who passed, who didn't? Who earned commended, who didn't? How we compared to other campuses? Was there an increase or decrease from scores last year?? As awesome as we did as a campus, there was no celebrating.... the NUMBERS weren't what they should have been.

Thank goodness, NUMBERS don't define me. I've never been addicted to the scale or too embarrassed to share my age. Standardized test scores, do not show who I AM as a person or teacher. I don't want my students to remember their TAKS numbers or percentages, I want them to remember all the fun activities we did in class that made the light bulbs go off in their little heads and helped them learn something that will stick with them forever. I want them to remember the times we all burst out laughing in the middle of a novel because of how brilliantly the author had written the story. I want them to remember the times we snuck out for some extra recess as a reward for all their hard work and their teacher beat them at Tag. Experiences like these DEFINE ME, not NUMBERS.