Enrichment

This school year marks the first time I feel satisfied with the range of academic "enrichment" opportunities being offered to students. Standardized testing and curriculum measure learning far too narrowly. Any thoughtful teacher, citizen, parent, or student knows there are multitudes of creative and exciting ways to display learning that go beyond filling in a multiple choice bubble. I appreciate the teachers and leadership at my school who understand this.


My school, Shelby County East Middle School (KY), is still focused on mandated state and federal testing to an extent that, at times, makes me uncomfortable. On the bright side, there are lots of cool things going on in the building to directly impact student engagement and motivation. We have a new "enrichment" period in our daily schedule, essentially giving motivated teachers an opportunity to expand meaningful learning initiatives with students. So far, I've heard about the following courses offered (or about to begin) during this enrichment period: sign language, economics, food and ethics, archery, a media/communications project, literature circles galore, and science fair demonstrations, among others.



This is the first year with our enrichment period. It's not always smooth sailing. Many veteran teachers, myself included, have been running around trying to play catch up with this extra prep. I have my fingers crossed that we can build on whatever successes come this year and not follow the counterproductive pattern of annually (seemingly) changing the daily schedule.