Things are getting much better and much easier. I think part of this is due to getting the lessons and skills necessary to be effective in the classroom. For example, we just learned various strategies for English Language Learners (ELL). I learned how there were different levels of comprehension that affect student performance in the classroom--ie just because a student can converse with his friends in a conversation doesn't mean that he will be able to understand the abstract content specific terms the teacher uses in class. We learned more strategies and I find myself almost always implement some new skill or method each day as I get my education class before teaching 5th period.
Friday was an interesting day at school as well. It was the last day for many of the students--many received their report cards, TAKS scores, and the notice of whether they would be promoted to 8th or had to stay for an extra two weeks to get the promotion. Being the last day of school, the middle schoolers definitely had some things planned--such as a food fight. Yep, we got a message over the loud speaker listing off each male teacher's name and then asking for all TFA teachers to go to the cafeteria. But, by the time we arrived it was over.
I also gave my students their midterm assessment on Friday, too. We are mandated to give them and I found my results quite useful and meaningful. Each student was tested on the objectives we had taught until this point and they were asking 3 questions for each objective. Many of the students had similar grades (such as missing only a few questions). However, it was obvious that many students were missing the same questions in similar ways. There was no cheating as almost each student was at his or her own table and I was watching all 8 take the test. What this meant was that the fault was on my end (which follows TFA's belief of "teacher's actions lead to students' actions). When I saw this I realized how little we learn from percentages on tests. Imagine two students get an 75% on a test. Most would assume that they performed the same on the test. However, if the test had an even distribution of questions around the subject material, then the performances could be different. Maybe the first student missed the "tough questions" on each section but got 75% of each section right and the second student aced the first two sections yet only managed 50% on the last two. This indicates two different students who have performed differently in class and two different strategies to help them improve their future test scores.
I've been somewhat skeptical of the idea of a "standardized education," but it's helpful to have a starting point and a method for knowing what was successfully taught to the students. Furthermore, we know that students will (or are supposed to) have a core body of knowledge. This ensures that all students are getting an equal education because if 100% of what was taught was left up to the teacher then some students wouldn't get the same education as their peers. Imagine a class learning mostly about biology and physics but little about chemistry. Or a class only learning about world war 1 and world war 2 and not learning about vietnam or korea. Sure, standard based education isn't perfect and many hate "teaching to the test." It seems as though many would want to teach for education's/knowledge's sake (and I would 100% agree with that). There is the possibility of a balance between the two where if you take care of the education/knowledge part then the testing should take care of itself (an approach used by a great spanish teacher in high school).
The hurdles, in my limited experience, seem to stem from the tests themselves. The fact is, many teachers "teach to the test" willingly. The tests they "teach to" are final exams, papers, quizzes, projects, and presentations. Almost every standardized test is a test full of multiple choice questions. MC questions are good for testing basic knowledge facts of a subject, but they don't do much in showing upper levels of Bloom's Taxonomy such analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. Of course change would take lots of time and money, but it would be great if our state based assessments were papers, presentations, debates, essay based tests (yes, even in science), lab reports and any other method that tests a realistic use of education. In college and after, we have to argue for points, communicate our ideas in writing and speaking, solve problems, and carry out procedures or calculations methodically. When was the last time a lawyer, doctor, accountant, architect, etc went to work and filled in one of four bubbles with a number 2 pencil for his or her salary?
Tomorrow I'll find out which students return and which new students I get for my classes. No one is quite sure what will happen, so it'll be interesting.
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