Testing...What's up with that?

Lately I have read a lot of articles about Wake County School's performance on the EOG's.  The schools and students showed an increase in performance in meeting the standards.  As I enter the teaching profession I have to wonder about what these test are really showing.  I agree that there need to be standards of what students need to learn and there needs to be levels of acceptance of meeting that standard.  Isn't that what report cards are for?  Being a product of an education that did not rely on these all or nothing types of tests I wonder how accurate these tests really are.

Students suffer from test anxiety, they can be having a bad day on the day of the test, the test may not provide scenarios that are familiar to all students, or they can just not be good test takers.  Do these types of things get factored in?  I can tell you from my experience - no.  None of those things matter.  The only thing that seems to matter is the final score.  These tests cannot provide an accurate rating of a students knowledge.  I feel that report cards are the accurate portraits of a students performance and knowledge.  Why don't we place more value on that?

These tests are also used as a gauge (in some cases) of a teachers performance.  Some school administrators use test scores to assist in evaluating a teacher's effectiveness.  With the pressure the county as well as the federal government ties to the results of these tests, it's no wonder there is so much focus on them.  BUT does student performance give an accurate picture of a teachers effectiveness?  Students overall progress throughout the year is a more effective way to gauge this.  

There needs to be standards, there needs to be levels of acceptance.  Are there better ways to determine these things?  I think so.  What are they?  Isn't that the ultimate question?

Reflections on 5th grade lesson. Which way is west?

So you have to plan a lesson to teach in a 5th grade class.  You find a fun interactive assignment that involves the students using cardinal directions to move throughout the US map.  Then you wonder, "Is this too easy for 5th grade?  How can I make it more challenging?"  You add a part to include language arts and you hope it will be a successful lesson.  Reality!  Some 5th graders are not sure which way west is.  The lesson you think will take 30 minutes could in reality last 1 hour and require a follow-up the next day.

The students seemed engaged in the lesson.  At first, I think they weren't sure how to react.  This lesson was a interactive lesson - swim west across the gulf of Mexico & the students are to act out swimming.  They looked at each other and as one began the motions, the others began to follow.  These students are from a class that is textbook directed and the students are required to work silently without much interaction.  This lesson was totally foreign to them.  After they got into it, they had fun.

When it came time to write their own directions and then read them aloud is when I realized they did not have a firm grasp of cardinal direction.  As we followed one students directions, we were directed to travel west from Washington state to arrive in California.  Once I demonstrated the directions she realized the directions she gave led us to the Pacific Ocean.  Another student's directions include us "jacking" a car and driving North.  Don't you love the humor of 5th graders?  After redirection, we finish our directions.  I suddenly realize - I don't have time to complete the worksheet portion of the lesson.  Well, remain flexible and roll with it.

What did I learn?  

For student's that come from classes that are not encouraged to be interactive, it takes time for them to feel comfortable with this type of environment.  

Knowing the student's current knowledge is imperative.  I thought my lesson could have been too easy and it wasn't.  Assessing current and previous knowledge is necessary to plan appropriate lessons. 

Sometimes things take longer than you think.  Teachers need to be flexible in the classroom and their planning.  Had this been my class, I would have needed to plan a second lesson on cardinal directions since I felt that they didn't get a full understanding.

Finally, 5th graders sense of humor sometimes - not so funny! :)

What are your reactions or experiences with point of view, perspectives, and biases in history?

I remember in elementary school we watched a film about the pilgrims.  It followed one family and their struggles.  Our teacher had us write a diary from the point of view of one of the people in the film.  I chose the young girl Patience.  Putting myself in her shoes made it easier for me to relate to the struggles they went through and the feelings that she felt.  It really made the subject come to life for me.  I got so engaged I swore I would name my first girl Patience.  My family thought this was hilarious. 

This experience shows how having students see another's point of view can engage that student in the subject matter.  The ideas presented in the Lindquist text are great ways of doing this.  I really liked the Letter from the Heart idea of having the students write letters from different perspectives of the unit you are studying.  This is a great way to get the material to come to life be engaging.  It also begins to show the student how to have empathy for other thoughts and feelings by looking at things from their perspective. 

As far as biases in history, I grew up in the DC area.  It seems that there was always someone around reminding us that that was "just one side of the story."  My teacher's always talked about how we needed to remember that there was always another way to look at things.  I think this is important when presenting information to students.  Remind them that this is how the author saw it.  Use it as a discussion topic, "how might someone else see it?"  

Teach the children to always think of another way to look at things.  This is a way to peak interest, begin discussions, and create tasks.

Learning by heart is 'pointless for Google generation'

The ideas presented in this article follow the ideas of asking essential questions.  With textbooks and computers storing all the dates and facts, is it important for students to memorize these facts or learn about and apply deeper understandings and connections between these facts?  

As a student of the traditional approach of memorization, I did not learn memorized items for any longer then the test.  Even today, I cannot recall many dates in history.  The things that stayed with me over long periods of time are the things we explored and discussed-not just memorized.  In order to create a more meaningful learning environment, I believe you have to have lessons that engage and interest the students.  Is it more important to know the dates of the Civil War or the reasons that brought about the war and what we learned from it?  In my opinion it is more important to know the what and why not just the when.

Now for all those die hard history buffs that love those date, I am not saying we abandon the importance of dates and facts.  How else would we we be able to have Jeopardy?  I am saying to create opportunities for students to learn how to interpret and apply the knowledge surrounding these facts.  When this occurs, it engages the students in a higher level of thinking and can assist in them learning the "google" facts.  These types of activities are the ones that I remember the most, not the tests on the dates of the wars or years the Presidents were in office.  I guess it is for each person to decide which is most important to them.

If the textbook holds the answers, What are the questions?

When I went through school, the questions that we were asked were based on what we would find in our textbook.  Reading a chapter and then answering the questions at the end of the chapter was a common practice.  I now know that this does not provide the opportunity to build deeper understandings or connections.

A better approach is to use the information in the textbook as a launching point for thought provoking, essential questions.  Instead of having students recite the facts in the book, use the facts to find connections, make inferences, and build a deeper understanding.  

By creating units around essential questions, it gives students opportunities to look for certain relationships, connections, inferences, and and ask their own questions.  It opens the door for conversations of the facts and how these facts help build this deeper understanding.

The traditional way - memorizing facts and dates, also does not lead to long term understanding.  I cannot recall much of the things I learned in my Social Studies classes.  I believe this is because I was never asked to answer provoking, engaging questions.  When you are engaged in higher level thinking, it stays with you, you remember it longer.  

This new way to approach teaching is an interesting concept.  Create essential questions that you unit will try to answer.  This brings about discussions with your students, questioning from your students, and sometimes surprising answers.    

Backward Design Planning

My first reaction to this new way to approach lesson planning is - "It's in the title, this seems very BACKWARDS."  All of the planning I have been doing and all of the planning I have seen so far has been the "traditional" way to plan lessons to teach.  Look for your Subject, find the specific objective you want to address, create the lesson, teach, and assess.  Now all of a sudden someone says, "hey what if we look at this through a new lens.  What if we look at the big ideas - the overall learning and work backwards to create our lessons."

When I left class on Tuesday I felt a little confused on how this would work.  After further reading and reflection, it makes sense.  To relate it to when I was a manager and we had to create business plans, we started with the Annual Business plan.  What is the goal/objective for our business this year.  We then created a Monthly business plan.  How can we break these annual goals into 12 smaller objectives?  Then we broke it down to weekly business plans.  What are we going to do this week to help us achieve our monthly goals and objectives?  Finally, we had our daily business plans.  What are we doing today that will help us along this path?

This seems like the same approach.  While it seems confusing and awkward right now, if it makes sense for a business to reach it's goals - why would it be any different for a teacher to reach their goals.  Create the annual plan - what are the students going to learn this year?  Now break it down monthly, weekly, then daily.  It is a new way for me to look at planning but I hope my experience with business planning can help me with this.

When a novelist creates a novel - most have the ending in mind.  Then they create the events that lead to the ending.  Teachers know the ending to the story - now we have to create the path for our characters (students) to get there.  With practice and patience I think we can get our characters to their happy ending.

NC Museum of Art

I have to admit, I love art museums.  This is something that was not instilled in me through school but through my family.  My parents used to always take us to the Art museums in DC even as young children.  This really created an appreciation for art and the stories behind each piece of work.

Being able to instill this same type of appreciation in my students might be one of the easier things for me to do.  Art and each individual piece of art is a history lesson in and of itself.  Whether it be the story of what is captured in the art or the story of the artist, there is always a story to tell.  Finding the right story to tie into your lessons can be the challenging part.  Finding the right way to tie these different aspects together into the lessons could seem overwhelming, Art could be the connecting piece.  Finding art that depicts scenes from history and then finding pieces that were created during the same time period could be a great discussion starter.  How are they related, how are they different?  

I am excited for the new parts of the museum to open.  I think field trips to Art Museums are not planned enough in schools.  Art can not only be engaging, with art it is open to one's own interpretation.  What a great way to stimulate  students own way of thinking and getting a glimpse into their perspective on things.  If you can't take your class to an art museum, bring art to your classroom.  I think we'll all be surprised with the conversations it begins.