Today, for the first time in a very long time, I had fun with every single one of my classes. My 9th graders are reading The House of the Scorpion and are getting into the creepy dystopian world, while my 12th graders just finished reading origin/creation stories from all over the world and comparing them, and now we are writing our own creative origin stories in graphic novel style. On Monday, we are starting Mythical Creature March Madness, where they research a legendary creature to learn about where it came from, what its story is, its powers and weaknesses, and how it connects with stories today. Then we’re going to set them up in a bracket and vote for the most epic creature. I’m totally psyched for next week.

The intense focus on RIGOR and DATA and PRIORITY STANDARDS and STANDARDIZED TESTING had really dulled my sense of excitement, wonder, and fun as a teacher. Rigor is the biggest buzzword: being told that kids need to read novels and write essays. “They should be reading a book a week.” I mean, yeah, reading is good, but that’s kind of a weird standard and there are other texts with which they need to be literate. “They should be writing 2-3 page essays every week.” Um… I love writing and all, but there are other things we can be doing that stretch their imaginations, their curiosity, their inquisitiveness.

I used to have fun all the time in my classes. I’ve made paper with kids, put together mosaics, done service learning projects, stitched quilts of stories and poems together, cooked food that was featured in a novel, written stories and ethnographies and had epic debates. The kids who were in those classes did well and learned a lot. They are successful people. I know because I stay in touch with so many of them.

The cult of rigor has overtaken many schools and systems. Yes, students need to be challenged! Of course they do! We’ve gone too far, though, in the name of rigor and standardization and data. Lots of classrooms have lost the curiosity and imagination that they once had. It shows in our overstressed, anxious students.

I lost my own imagination and curiosity in the push for standardization, rigor, college readiness, and data. I am a creative person at heart and I lost that in my teaching, which is probably part of why I started feeling burned out and sad. I’m trying to reignite that part of my teaching; thankfully I have colleagues who are supportive and give me great ideas to play with. I wish I could have started this process sooner.