Test Scores Defeating Good Teachers

My READ411 professor, Doctor Weiner, sent us this article about a week ago. At first too busy to read the articles, I'm glad I saved the email to read over what he sent us. Every teacher worries about our students' test scores. We worry that if they don't do well, they may be placed in a remedial course the next year or perhaps, not understanding a concept on the SAT will keep them out of the college they want to go to. Now, we have the additional concern about our careers. This article from the New York Times describes how misleading test scores can be and how Hard Working Teachers can be Sabatoged When Student Test Scores Slip.

By comparing the percentages from the previous school year, when students had a passing rate of 97% and this year when students had a passing rate of 89%, the "teacher score" suffered. These teachers, as is pointed out in the article, have a long list of credentials and are trying to give students tools of learning beyond how to take an exam. They work to make their classrooms relevant and teach skills that the state does not require, but will be useful later on. It's frightening to see that 20+% of a teacher's evaluate is based on the scores of their students.

As an Englsh teacher, I feel that I have an extra concern with the standardized tests because English is viewed as being potentionally subjective in grading.  Even if a student completes the standardized test formula structure of a paragraph/paper, it's possible that a grader that doesn't like the student's word choice or examples could give my student a lower score on the exam. I do not want to be a teacher that spends 6 out of 10 months doing test prep, as there are many teachers who do this and I have been in classes where a teacher mainly focuses on test prep. I feel that there are more valuable lessons to teach and skills for students to master than how to answer a standardized test, but reading all of these articles makes me nervous for how to accomplish that while trying to ensure that my students will do well on their exams.

Rubric Problems

In my ENWR-371 class (Teaching Writing Grades 6-12) and CURR-314 class (Assessment of Learning) we're currently discussing rubrics. What makes a good/bad rubric? What is less intimidating to students? How can I convey the goals of the unit within a rubric? As is true with most topics in education, trying to make a rubric from scratch is difficult, and trying to make a rubric in the vacuum of theory classes is even more difficult. So, I turned to Google for a little help and clarification of rubrics. I was overjoyed to find several rubric creating websites! RubiStar, teAchnology, and RCampus were three useful websites that I found. Almost all of the rubrics on this site meet the standards discussed in CURR-314 and were simple to understand, a necessary adaptation discussed in my ENWR-371 course.

Rubrics are so important to English classes. As an English teacher, I'll be assessing my students' ability to write and comprehend literature. Most of my assessments will be performance tasks,with a few tests (perhaps on grammar, spelling, history of a an author or a novel) mixed in. The rubric is key to evaluating a performance task because it gives a range for students to be graded on, and shows their target areas of improvment in a subject where not every answer is cut and dry, right or wrong. Thus, the websites I found provide a great springboard to develop effective evaluation strategies in my classroom.

Interactivity #4

Lesson Plan Analysis Map

I chose this lesson plan because I felt that it had a good handle on how to relate sonnets back to the lives of the students, as well as having a fun activity to complete for the class. Overall, many teachers only teach Shakespeare when it comes to sonnets, and the power of a sonnet is lost because many students automatically assume they cannot understand anything by Shakespeare. I particularly like that the lesson started off with a modern sonnet, and then eventually circled back to Shakespeare in a very comprehensive way.

Overall, I feel that the lesson did not have many gaps. When adding in technology, I tried to focus my efforts on adding to the paper work that was originally described in the lesson plan. For example, instead of handing out worksheets that students can lose, I would publish the worksheets/notes onto a class discussion board where they can be accessed at anytime. Also, I felt that publishing the poems onto blogs is very important to help relate the activity to the students’ everyday life, as well as accomplishing more of the Core Curriculum Content Standards. The problem presented now with my version of the lesson plan is that if a school does not have access to computers for every student or a smartboard, then many of my adjustments are impossible to complete.

Although I do not feel that the technologies I presented are essential, I do feel that they are more effective than the original lesson plan. Having students publish work makes them take a certain level of pride in their work that would be difficult to accomplish in private drafts. Also, the technologies I’ve presented makes for easy note-taking, assignment collecting and adds relevance to the lesson.

Education and the discussion of same-sex marriage

A few days ago while I was on facebook, I couldn't help but notice this article on my newsfeed. The article was posted by the facebook group New Jersey Teachers United Against Governor Christie's Pay Freeze. They were sarcastically remarking that Christie was jealous he had not thought of this himself, as he had just voted down the right for same-sex marriage in New Jersey.

I think that the points here are of great concern to myself as a future teacher. I believe that same-sex marriage is a right. I have many homosexual relatives and friends who are waiting for the day when they can marry who they want. But on the other hand, I am not unaware of the fact that depending on certain positions I take as an educator, and how public I make them, I may not get hired or could be fired. I know that identifying as being a homosexual, publicly, can restrict people from getting jobs.

With all of this debate about state laws, the first amendment, religion, diversity, acceptance - I am curious how/if I can voice my opinion on such matters. Does Newt Gingrich have a point that teachers who are trying to be neutral are doing a disservice to their students? This is a very complicated subject, but it's a very big concern of mine, and I'm sure other future teachers in this class.