Minutes

Ah, minutes, the bane of every educator's existence. Time, my dear friend, you are the ultimate nemesis in our noble quest to mold young minds. You're like that annoying fly that just won't quit buzzing around our heads during a critical lecture. Yes, time, you are the worst.

But what's even worse than the relentless march of minutes? It's when you're earnestly trying to support student achievement and foster a love for learning. I mean, come on, we're not miracle workers here; we're educators. We need time to work our magic.

Now, let's talk about PBL, Project-Based Learning. I'm a staunch believer in it. You see, it's like teaching someone to swim by throwing them into the deep end of a pool. Scary, right? But it works! Teach a student a concept, then toss them a real-world project and watch the magic happen. It's like turning learning into a thrilling adventure, and trust me, kids love an adventure.

But here's the kicker – when I visit my elementary schools and have a chat with principals and instructional coaches, what do I get? The classic BS excuse: "We don't have time for that." Seriously? Not cool, folks. We spend the first semester teaching, which includes the joy of reteaching during the first quarter because of the infamous summer brain drain. Then, we hit them with new concepts in the second quarter.

And just when you thought it couldn't get any more ridiculous, January rolls around, and our precious time is devoted to "teaching to the test." It's like saying the Voldemort of education phrases, "teaching to the tests." It's a sham, a charade, and standardized testing? Well, that should be filed under "Things That Should Be Abolished ASAP."

I've ranted about this before, but it's high time we kick the industrialized education system to the curb and embrace CTE – Career and Technical Education – lessons for kids from PreK to 12th grade. Let's scale down those STEM/STEAM/CTE programs and align them vertically to build up.

And here's a novel idea: Stop saying, "We don't have time for PBLs; our minutes for math and literacy are sacred." I'm here to tell you, no, no, they're not sacred. It's BS, folks! We can incorporate math and literacy seamlessly into our PBLs, and guess what? Kids will learn intentionally and potentially have fun at the same time. Imagine that! So, let's make those minutes work for us, not against us, and let the learning adventures begin!