by Kay Fielding

Created on: October 03, 2009

Adapting to state standards can be very involved. States set the standards, and the trickle down effect is from state to county to district to school to teacher. Ultimately the teachers are held responsible for standards that they often do not fully understand, and this article will discuss the issues that a teacher has to face to learn to adapt.

There are two different kinds of teaching methodologies. There is the artistic method wherein teachers teach by using fun things, art, and ideas that are enjoyable to teach children the subject matter. What a good teacher, this methodology teaches children to develop creativity and teaches them to be analytical and evaluative in their judgments. Unfortunately, too many teachers get distracted by the artistic part and teach art instead of the subject matter. It is hard to rate this type of learning. By drawing the Native American religious items, did my student really learn what I wanted him to learn? Sometimes artistic methods fail to really teach and test to standards.

As a result, states are moving toward scientific methodology in teaching, and teachers are required to adapt to state standards. This means that we have what many would call canned teaching which is a specific thing that must be done to teach a particular idea or area of a subject. The scientific method is more inclined toward rote learning, testing and specifically formatted teaching so that teachers get a guide that will be used for teaching a particular subject. Unfortunately, too often this guide becomes a Bible, and this ruins the enjoyment of teaching and learning.

The biggest challenge I find is that the scientific method that states are moving toward is that we are given a specific method of teaching sometimes called a Mapping Guide. This Mapping Guide tells a teacher exactly what pages should be taught, and if followed closely, it tells the teacher what should be said. If well written, it usually works for the majority of students. But children who are imaginative, active or highly intelligent find the scientific method limiting and boring. They lose interest in school and all that it involves. Special education students are often lost with these methodologies, and they become disruptive and distracted, not learning at all. Additionally, teachers get bored teaching the same lesson over and over, year after year. We sometimes comment that a person who could read could teach the subject.

The next biggest problem is that, at times, state

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