Day 11 I Don't Believe #SOL17

(This post was inspired by an idea I read from a student while perusing the Classroom Slice of Life Challenge. This student is in Margaret Simon's class and you can read his post here.)

 I Don't Believe 
I don't believe that numbers tell the whole story.
I don't believe test scores should decide any person's worth.
I don't believe in giving a lot of homework.
I don't believe in reading logs that make you count pages or minutes. 
I don't believe schools should look and feel the same as they did 100 years ago.
I don't believe students should learn the way I learned in 1988.

 I don't believe any research that says class size doesn't make a difference- it does.
I don't believe you should become a teacher to get summers off.
I don't believe  you should dangle a prize or a pizza coupon in front of a student to get him to read.
I don't believe you should ever go a day without reading aloud to students.
I don't believe that readers are letters of the alphabet. 
I don't believe that writing should only ever live in a folder or the teacher's pile to be graded.

 I don't believe that teachers should stop learning and striving to improve.
I don't believe in clip charts anymore. 
I don't believe in compliance as a means of classroom management.
I don't believe the day should start without warmly greeting each other in a classroom meeting.

 I don't believe in doing the bare minimum or cutting corners.
I don't believe in phoning it in.
I don't believe that I have enough time to be as good of a teacher as I could be.
I don't believe I'll ever stop feeling guilty about that.

 I don't believe teachers are lazy or inept.
I don't believe teachers are the problem.
I don't believe our schools are failing.
I don't believe poverty doesn't play a role in a student's achievement.
I don't believe teachers can solve every problem.

 I do believe teachers can make a difference.
I do believe students will remember how you made them feel.
I do believe every single thing we say and do counts.
I do believe teaching simultaneously breaks your heart and fills it.

 I don't believe there is anything else I'd rather be than a teacher. 

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