How many times have you heard something like this?- We don't have snack in our classroom during the last marking period because we are getting students ready for next year when they won't have snack.
- I'm teaching students this because they'll need to know it next year.
- We give spelling tests at the end of the year to get them ready for next year.
Why are we always getting our students ready for the next year? Why can't next year's teacher do next year's work?
With standards in place at all of the grade levels, teachers have a clear idea of what students should know and be able to do by the end of the grade level. This is where our focus must be. (Even better, we could meet our students where they are in their learning and move them forward, but that is a topic for another day.)
The time for the end of the nosy neighbor syndrome has come. We no longer need to look over the fence to see what's happening in the next grade because if our students have met the this year's standards, they will be ready for the next grade.
