Am I a supporter of the TEKS Resource System? YES! Did I drink the Kool-Aid? Probably! But you know why? Because I get it! Not at first of course. But once I was taught how to use all of the documents on the website, it helped me! It helped me to understand my standards!
Evidently I have a mantra in my new district... it's "Know your standards!" Because looking at a document that lists your standards (K.12A, K.6B, etc.) is not helpful! You don't KNOW that standard and typically you also don't know it's specificity!
A few people lately have asked me "What's that word?" Specificity. It's certainly a curriculum word. I probably use it more often than I should with an assumption that people know what it is. Why am I a fan of the TEKS Resource System? Because it helped me to understand my standards- because there is specificity! Specificity would be the details of the standard! The clear explanation of exactly what I am supposed to teach and on certain documents from the TEKS Resource System I can even see the specificity of grades before me and after me!
A teacher told me yesterday that I said specificity like 16 times in a 45 minute training! She laughed and said she couldn't even pronounce it once, and I just kept saying it like it was no big deal! They were laughing at me (in a nice way I think) from the back of the room. Then they said, "We should turn this into a drinking game! When Leach says specificity- we should drink!" Oh how I wish we would have had some liquor!
If nothing else, I'm going to help these teachers KNOW their standards- and realize that the TEKS Resource System is a support system (I promise) for them to know/understand/teach/use their standards- and yes- the SPECIFICITY of those standards!
Can I get an AMEN?
Somebody?
AMEN!
