I am in a Funk!

Will I am in a funk~I am frustrated as a teacher! I teach for many reasons. I love children, I love that smile and sparkle they get when they understand something for the very first time, and I love to teach! BUT......I am so frustrated angry with all the new paper work my state/system is adding and I am being taken away from the teaching part of my job. I loved teaching Special education~challenging but Oh so worth it. I left Sp.Ed. because the paper work began to become the larger portion of the job and teaching was not as important to the powers that be. Please don't get me wrong I know for purposes of CYA~covering your assets, paperwork is necessary. But with new standards and requirements our regular ed classrooms have individual education expectations for each of the 19 children in all subjects that I have on roll. Now I have written IEP's (Individual Education Plans) for my SpEd students and the difference between the two~In SpEd my numbers were much lower. I believe in making teachers accountable and make them take classes to keep them up to date in new things that are effective~but just because there are some poor teachers out there~don't punish us all! I believe in documentation and accountability and being able to show evidence of a student's level of abiity. But I also believe parents need to be accountable for showing that their child is important by taking an ACTIVE role in their school work. I believe in assessment~not so much for grading but to see what a child can and cannot do~but it should be there to help in my planning on the next move. No two children learn the same, start at the same starting point or progress at the same rate. Good teachers are always monitoring to see where children are and if there is progress or problems. As a teacher I want to go in my room and teach, explore, inspire, excite, intrique and encourage but I don't think that those things are as easy to do as they once were~I miss those days! I don't like to sit down and write plan after plan after plan of things that might help this child or could work with that child. I want to go into my room and reach each child where they are right this moment and take them as far as we can possibly go. Instead of making things look good on paper I want to work the magic. I know I have prbably contradicted myself in this entry~I am frustrated so forgive! Bottom Line instead of talking a good talk I like to walk the walk~the walk is where you are getting the job done instead of just making it sound good! Oh well~thanks for letting me get this off my chest. I hope that everyone has had a Great Wednesday and an even better Thursday!!