A New Experience

I wanted to talk about a new experience I had this week as a teacher.  Yesterday I was a test proctor for students with special needs during our statewide examinations.  These were 3rd grade students and most of them I have had in class before, so I knew them fairly well.  Here is what I like about giving standardized tests to students with special needs (504 plans, IEP's, etc...):  These students should be held accountable for learning just like every other student and we should also hold them accountable for their behavior and progress.  In that sense, these standardized tests are appropriate. Whomever makes the tests seem to do a decent job of making it "user friendly", i.e., big text, lots of space, lots of color, etc...  However, I feel that the large majority of the material tested on was not appropriate for the students (at least the ones I was proctoring).  Students were asked to read an article and write about similarities and differences between people and the subject of the article (one student couldn't read and others have a very difficult time).  For the math portion the students were clueless.  Even simple arithmetic was all but impossible which means there was a whole lot of guessing going on.  I didn't see any attempt on the part of the test makers to focus on material more that their level.  And making these students sit quietly for 2.5 hrs?  Come on..... really? Even "normal" students have trouble with that.
I have no problem with measuring the progress of these students or with testing these students.  I feel like we need to rethink the way we do it so that we can get a more accurate picture of how these students progress. 

End of Day Thoughts on 3/1/2011

I don't mind state achivement tests, I think they can be a good tool to evaluate student learning.... My problem with state achivement tests is that they are usually the only tool used to evaluate students, teachers, schools, districts, etc...  and in some cases a state standardized test is not appropriate for students to take.  Example, do we really expect a student with severe special needs to perform exceptionally well on a standardized test?  Probably not.  However, that absolutely does not mean learning didn't take place during the school year nor does it mean the student has a bad teacher.  There are so many factors that contribute to student growth and learning...  Good diet, proper exercise, proper sleep, supportive and involved parents, students that do their homework everynight, reading at home, good teachers, good administrators, etc...  these are all generalizations and of course I could be way more specific, but I think you get the idea.  Therefore let us be intelligent about standardized testing and use them as only another tool rather than THE tool for student and teacher evaluation.

This is a great website my wife shared with me today:   http://www.khanacademy.org/

February 25th, 2011

Morning....

I found this website yesterday as I was trying to get a better understanding of the drivative function.  This might be a nice website to use with students as it gives the formal math definitions of the derivative function with a nice applet so they can actually SEE the derivative function in action in real-time. 

http://www.calculusapplets.com/derivfunc.html

More thoughts on what is going on in Madison, WI.....

Teachers are being disciplined (docked pay) for falsely calling in sick and getting fake doctor's notes.  This is tottally reasonable.  You don't show up for work, you don't get paid.  Period.  I can understand that teacher's want to voice their opinions about their collective bargaining, but are you seriously going to skip work and get a fake doctor's note to do so?  Plus, isn't that border-line illegal?

Listening to the radio this morning

Welcome back....  I am a fan of talk radio and was listening to an AM station this morning on the way to work.  The hosts were talking about the strike going on in Madison, WI and a teacher called in and essentialy said, "I've been teaching for a while now, a teacher who has been in the system for a while gets  paid more than the average person, and the retirement benefits are more than adequate."  The hosts then proceeded to talk about how student achivement is pathetic (bad teaching implied here)  and how America scores on the low end of the scale, etc.....  oh and how people should go into teaching because of their love for students, not the money.  Ok, so here are my thoughts....  1)  I can't speak for every teacher, but I know I am in this profession for the love of students and wanting to see them successful in live... not the money.  2)  Teachers have to make a living too, therefore money is important, not the most important thing, but still important.  3)  Its amazing how people automatically connect low performing students with "bad teachers."  Are there bad teachers in the system?  Unfortunately, yes.  These people should find another profession, how about fly fishing?  But consider how there is zero parent and student accountability (you can't be "fired" from being a bad parent).  Teachers cannot control what goes on outside of school and therefore has little control over how much studying or working on educational material occurs.....  These are my thoughts for this morning, what do you think?

My First Post

So I'm a teacher.... and I take about 10 to 15 minutes before and after school everyday to read about things going on in the field of education.  I love reading and talking about education with other teachers, parents, and whomever else has an interest, especially those not in the field.  So I created this blog to be just that, a blog where others and myself can discuss, agree, and disagree about topics in education.  Please comment, share opinions, openly disagree with me if you do, express your thoughts on the subject, etc....  Let the blogging insanity begin!!!!