The first time I walked into that fourth-grade classroom as an administrator, the walls were covered in anchor charts. The objective was posted. The teacher was working hard. This was traditionally considered ideal teaching. Yet, when I asked students what they were learning and why it mattered, some guessed, while others remained silent. One student looked at the board, then back at me, and said, “I don’t know… we’re just doing this.” I knew this wasn’t the fault of a single teacher. It was a systems problem. You’re probably thinking of the irony in that statement, but let me explain.
