Not Yet!

As we end the year, our days are filled with assessments and measuring student progress.  I found this, and thought it was helpful to think about as we think about the year end with our students.

Yet at the end of any sentence transforms it. As students transition to the next grade or school, teachers will chat about the progress each child has made. There are lots of students and needs, and it’s impossible not to make sweeping statements or generalizations. I wonder how the conversations would change if more of those statements ended with yet.

Alana can’t read fluently . . . yet.

The statement naturally invites more conversation about what Alana can do and how that is putting her on the path, however bumpy and uneven, to more reading skills. Max doesn’t work well with others is a finite statement. Max doesn’t work well with others yet is a point in a journey that Max, his teacher now, and his teacher next year are on together.

With some children, challenges can far outnumber strengths. Those kids need our yets more than anyone else.

Thank you for your continued patience and belief in students.  Our students have made incredible growth this year, with more to come.  Some have exceeded our expectations, and some are still working... just not yet!