Clothes?? Who needs em!

Even though it's subzero outside Owen sees no reason to wear clothes while he's in the house. Fortunately, he did leave his diaper on! What you can't see is his "old man" navy blue socks! I changed his diaper after his nap and he ran off without his pants on. So I just let him. Then he was tugging at his sweatshirt so I just pulled it off of him. Then he was tugging at his onesie so I pulled that off too. He seemed all happy then. Rubbing his tummy like a little man! He spent the rest of the day happily playing in just his diaper and "old man" socks. I tried putting his sweatshirt back on when he got some goosebumps but he wanted nothing to do with it. He reminds me of my cousin who spent a good deal of our childhood in nothing but underwear. I spent a lot of time waiting for him to get dressed! When my mom and my aunt would shop together he would undress between stores in the car. My mom took to calling him "shortsman". I wish I were a good cartoon artist. It would make for a very funny cartoon.

Maureen's challenge for today is: Sit quietly for a minute. Then ask yourself what needs to be expressed thorough your writing today. Begin there.

Mmm. Well, while I was listening to MPR (MN public radio) yesterday they were discussing NCLB (No Child Left Behind). I cannot find a direct link to what I was listening to but they had people on both sides of the fence. People who were part of writing this piece of work. One man had a point that I totally agree with. It is not possible to write a law or legislation or standards to blanket education. You cannot account for all the variables that a child may or may not come to school with. Socioeconomic, cultural, medical etc. As an educator I have seen children come to school ahead of their grade level and bored, hungry, dirty, speaking a language other than the one I taught in, abused, spoiled, indulged and ignored. I have news for the people who wrote NCLB. CHILDREN HAVE BEEN LEFT BEHIND! And in some part because of NCLB. My school participated in a three year program called Reading First. We were poorly informed of this program when we (the teachers) signed on. I did not participate in year two or three. However, year one was like having my hands tied behind my back and being expected to teach children to read. This program was designed to comply with NCLB. As an educator I have an education. My job is to teach. And as an educator I feel I should be allowed to do that job without politicians telling me how and to what standard OR test. This is a deep and weighty issue. There are people across the spectrum of the issue. However, I can say as a teacher my primary goal was to teach my students in a way that both challenged and rewarded them. ALL of them. Not just the ones who struggle or fall below the grade level cut off. All children deserve to be taught in a way that works for them. This cannot be written into a law or a policy. It can only be done by well trained, qualified and competent educators and the parents of their students. After all, education first begins in the home. When parents are expected to parent and teachers are qualified to teach and allowed to do so with quality curriculum at their hands and good administrators supporting them then perhaps we will see the results that the politicians are asking for.
As always, it is not my intent to offend anyone with my soap box rant. These are just my humble opinions.