Fifth grade teacher Crissie Traugott from Valley Elementary School in Jefferson, Maryland captured her thoughts on classroom-posted lesson objectives in "Today I Will Buck Standardized Objectives," a short Washington Post op-ed.

Many teachers are required to post their classroom objectives daily. In this fresh culture of "accountability," we are required to publicly defend what we are teaching and why it's important. This amuses me because I imagine other professions having to do this.

Today patients will receive an immunization in order to fight disease.

Today riders will travel in my cab in order to reach a chosen destination.

Today in class, my curriculum-based objectives could have shared valuable chalkboard real estate with the following:

Today students will practice lockdown procedures in order to avoid violent intruders in our school.

Today students will work in teams in order to see that outstanding work can be produced with cooperation and dedication.

Today students will enjoy a book for reasons other than taking a test in March.

Today students will enjoy an impromptu lesson about spiders in order to debunk the myth that they are brain-eating creatures running under Zach's desk.

You certainly won't find these objectives tested in the spring; however, my students' development was unmistakably enriched by these moments. Lesson plans are tentative and fickle, as the teaching profession is an unpredictable roller-coaster ride filled with steep climbs, unexpected loops and breathtaking drops.

One thing is for certain, though: I cherish every minute of the ride.

Today, somehow, teachers have to be able to see the paths that each of their students take even if they are forced to promote the fiction that each individual kid is marching lockstep to capture the next hill in the achievement battle. I don't teach every day any more, and I am ever-grateful to all of you who do and manage to keep your focus on each individual kid even as you're compelled to treat them like a monolithic faceless mass. Thank you for seeing them for who they are, for creating breathing spaces for them to follow their interests, and for valuing the journey rather than fixating on the destination.

Even at Essential schools - even those with autonomy and some fragile protection - it's a challenge. We know it is, even as we work to make it possible for all groups of learners to make connections, face challenges, have insights, and form relationships that will remain safely outside the grasp of formal assessment.