Student Generated Question and Answer

What do you do in June?

Here's my question, and I'll admit, it's a bit broad. However, with the weather reaching over 95 the past four days, it sure seems like June in my school, and not just with the weather. I do in-school suspension duty and the amount of kids in in-school has tripled since Friday. Furthermore, we've had three fights since Monday, which is the most since October, I think. For me, in the private world of my own classroom, the kids have been off-the-wall. I've even been in the computer lab, where it's air-conditioned, doing something fun and my 2 year old has more of an attention span than them. So the question becomes:

How do you keep the student motivation and interest and challenge as high in June as it is in October?

Sometimes there is nothing to be done; sometimes the school year just needs to end. (Sometimes?) But we need to continually offer the same high level of challenge and assessment throughout the year. But we need to also offer change...for example, right now I have over 25 pieces of writing in my students' portfolios. We have written on everything we have read and we have done a wide variety of different types of writing. I think it's safe to say that my students are burned out on writing, and that's OK...it was the price we paid for our goal of increasing the writing abilities and trying to step it up. But now, with the warm weather approaching and my favorite novel to teach on the horizon, I want to mix it up. We'll try a visual essay, where the students are going to take images from Flickr to prove their point from a list of topics. Instead of writing, they will be visualizing their thoughts. Hopefully this accomplishes the same as a formal essay and will continue to generate interest that will carry through to the end of the year.

This is also the time of year when music really helps as well. I usually use music throughout the year, whether it be something playing when the kids are working or as a method of timing the students..."when the song is over, time is up"...that kind of thing.

The bottom line is that we must continually change our approaches and methods if we want to reach every student. This certainly goes for our assessment as well...if we continue to revise and adjust our methods of assessment, then ideally our student output and interest rise and students leave our rooms feeling somewhat refreshed.

What Did I Learn from the Interactive Journal Process?

I think we were discussing earlier the misconceptions most of us (especially me) had with the concept of blogging. For some time, blogging seemed to me the biggest waste of time, even more of a waste of time than watching The Office, if you can believe that. However, forced exposure to the world of blogging has changed my mindset.

I used to do interactive notebooks with my students...these were notebooks that the kids wrote in on a variety of topics, both in and out of class. The notebooks would never leave the room and when I had time, I would comment in them, hence the interactive part. However, this interaction only functioned two ways: from me to them and back again. With blogging, the communication becomes three dimensional and allows for students to comment on each other's blogs and in that manner, new learning and understanding can flourish in that capacity. What I resisted for years was the idea that blogging could be conducive to learning; how that was possible was beyond me. I thought that bloggers were people with nothing better to do, had an intense desire to let everyone know what they were doing at every particular moment of the day ("Hey, I'm off to do laundry" or "Oops, the pasta boiled over"), or simply were addicted to the concept of being networked.

This is not the case anymore. Our world is moving so fast, and as Kathy said, I cannot imagine my future classroom without this tool. Journals that I collect on a weekly basis can now be done online. Journaling is such a go-to activity for an English teacher that the concept of blogging has to be seen as the ultimate in journal accessibility. In fact, I'm writing this while staring at a mountain of papers that need to be filed and handed back and placed in portfolios...if I had been doing blogs all along...

This has changed for me. Now I can see the educational value in it, and believe it or not, I actually enjoy the writing. It feels good to get some of this stuff off my chest and to have some people view it and actually respond to it. Will I continue with this? The verdict's not in yet on that, but it will become part of my classroom toolbox and in fact, has already done so.

What Factors Are at Stake When Evaluating a Curriculum?

Since this topic is at the core of my curriculum paper, I will be brief here.



1) Does the curriculum address 21st century skills? If so, are they clearly defined and outlined?

2) Does the curriculum meet the needs of the students of your particular school? Meaning, is the curriculum challenging and engaging in terms of student motivation? If so, how?

3) Are the creators of the curriculum given latitude to take risks in this curriculum? In other words, if it is a literature course, are there modern works or works from other cultures, particularly areas which are not popular right now?

I subscribe to Marzano's theory of a guaranteed and viable curriculum and I think schools need to realize that they need to make the distinction clear between the two. I think all three of my criteria for curriculum can fall into what Marzano is advocating. 21st century skills need to be guaranteed and viable in curriculum across the country, as does student motivation and "thinking outside the box" to beat that dead horse, which is another way of stating my third criteria.

Is the Future Now for A.I.?

First of all, allow me to address why I chose this article, despite its thickness:


I just think the content is really cool. Imagine what your class would be like if individualized testing and student control of assessment is a working component of your lesson plan.


The timeliness of the artifical intelligence based testing programs cannot be overlooked. In a world gone mad (said in movie trailer guy voice) with standardized testing, there is no room for individual strengths and, as the article clearly points out, weaknesses. If we as teachers are to address differentiation in the classroom, where does that differentiation go on the standardized test? Oh, wait...there is a section for students to put their name down on the test, isn't there?

Clayton Christensen's term "disruptive innovation" is as apt a term as you're going to find here. This is exactly what is going to happen to the world of assessment if this kind of personalized assessing is happening: it will be cheaper, more effective, and the data the teachers will be able to harvest here will certainly disrupt the previous paradigm in public schools to lead way for a new frontier of valid, quality assessment.

I loved the anecdotes regarding Lexia and ALEKS. These are two programs which serve to identify problem areas the students are having and working on these areas until the students are ready to move on and have mastered the skill. They both remind me of a program I used to use called Criterion, which was actually sponsored by the state department of education. In this program, students wrote on a HSPA type persuasive prompt for the allotted time on the state tests. The computer would then assess the results and come back with a number based off the state registered holistic scoring guide. The student could then see within seconds what score they would have received on the writing. I would use it as a starting off point to making a polished final draft. The problem however was that the program was actually too nice to students: it would grade them significantly higher than I would! I would give 4's to papers that Criterion would grade a 6. But again, this was over five years ago...according to this article, the technology have improved greatly.

Of course, the problem becomes accessibility. Ramaswami goes on to note that A.I. based software and programs become useful only when they can be integrated seamlessly into the classroom and unfortunately for many, this is not the case.

I do take issue with John McCarthy, who I think missed the boat on the film A.I. Artificial Intelligence. The whole point of that film is to illustrate the futality of loving something that can't love back, which is what Brian Aldiss (the author of the original short story) makes clear in the story and the film. Of course they are not going to be fully human and that is the point: how does something that you create to act, think, and behave like a human not understand what love is?

Sorry to get that in there, but as a self-respecting movie fan, I had to do it.

Exit Card

List three things you learned, two things you found interesting and one thing you still have a question about. Comment on someone else's question.

1) I've certainly learned to be more computer literate. Now I'm pretty much ashamed of how much I didn't know before this class, so I will say that using some of this technology has been very helpful. I put together a Flickr slideshow yesterday for "Huck Finn" and it was a big hit in class and that's something I never would have done last year.

2) I've learned that collaboration is really the key to increasing success in the classroom. Just being able to sit down once a week with everyone here and talk about what's going on in the classroom is a big help. I wish I could do it more with the people in my building, but seriously, where's the time for that?

3) I've also learned that the world of blogging is more useful than I originally thought. I used to think blogging was a vapid, shallow, senseless waste of time, especially on the part of the person reading it. But now I see the value in it and with the help of Google Reader, it can be an incredibly useful tool for teachers. I really enjoy reading the blogs and wikis I'm subscribed to and at this time last year, I would have laughed at the person who did that.

4) I think that the most interesting aspect of this class is again the collaboration and communication we are sharing...I enjoy reading what people have posted and I must confess a big smile came across my face when I read Susan's post this week...thank you Susan!

5) Another interesting aspect of class has been the sense of a community beyond the walls of my school building. We are all dealing with the same problems, but the methods we use to solve them are incredibly different. I like that we come together to realize that.

6) My question all semester, as it will continue to be, is how do we practically and effectively use this time and these resources to better ourselves? How do we get our building administrators to see the value and give us the time to integrate the tools into our professional lives?

Schools Cut Back Subjects to Push Reading and Math

Is this where we're heading? This was written over two years ago, so I really hope there's been some push in the new administration for a broader curriculum and definite overhaul of NCLB. I completely agree with Paris Smith, the eighth grader who says he can't take two hours of math. I couldn't take forty minutes of it when I was in school, and if I had to take two hours a day, I'd go nuts. How can this be good? Won't the students get to a point where they've soaked up all the relevant knowledge and anything after that will just spill out onto the floor? How far can you push a kid in reading and math before their brain just shuts down and won't accept any more information?

The state of our nation's education is forever dictated to us by people who lack the fundamental understanding of what is means to help kids succeed. The final comment of the article only confirms the dire situation we are in. When a teacher says that the only motivation for her students to do well is get out of this "special" class and into a mainstream one, we have all failed as educators. There is no spark, no zest, no desire for education...just a understanding that if I fail the test, I'm in the low class.

Response to Classmate's Blog

This is a response to Susan's blog from March 30, 2009:

Yes! Attitude has to be the number one factor here. I know that I wrote about the lack of motivation among teenage boys (shown in the study Boys Adrift by Dr. Leonard Sax...awesome study, go check it out, especially if you have boys), but this issue is so key to our future I think. Sax states that in 1949, 82% of the undergraduates at American universities were men. In 2008, that number is more like 42%. Fewer and fewer boys are going to school and those that are in high school right now see school as only an insignificant precursor to whatever they're doing after school...when they're real day begins. This is the time for them to play video games, be with friends, or indulge in drugs or alcohol.

Susan is absolutely write when she says the factors that shape a student's attitudes...teacher's roles in this should be to continue to motivate that kid...I would rather work with a below average student who truly gives his best every time than a smart kid who is just lazy and won't do the work.

Can I indulge myself for a moment?

OK, thanks.

My proudest moment as an educator was when I was teaching a class of lower level juniors the skills necessary for the HSPAs...most of the kids had IEPs or 504s and one of the girls was pulled out by the child study team and told she was going to be exempt from taking the HSPAs. Her response was no, she didn't want to be, because Mr. Craig would be disappointed in me and he's worked too hard to give me what I need to pass the test. I was floored. And I only knew about it because a friend of mine was the special ed teacher in the room for the meeting. The student never told me. When I found out, I told her how proud I was of her. That's the type of kid who can do anything, I think. She had the right attitude but maybe not all the skills, but she got there and she eventually passed by a pretty wide margin. I think this is what Susan is getting at when she talks about attitude. If every kid had this girl's attitude, I think a lot of our problems would get a lot smaller.

Curriculum Mapping Our Way to Relevance

Giessman suggests here a complete overhaul of public school traditional curriculum so that it is more relevant to today's students. Instead of focusing on typical school subjects, he suggests an interdisciplinary approach involving subjects such as "communication, problem-solving, professional skills...social entrepreneurship, invention, ethics, and cultural dialogue". You would still need to address the skills that traditional subjects like English and math address, but now teachers could be combined and put in teams to address a real world problem like "a comprehensive plan to reduce school energy costs". This, I imagine, could involve all aspects of traditional curriculum:
1) English - writing a proposal for the project
2) Math - determining cost; establishing ratios of profit; demonstrating effeciency of new program
3) Science - establishing how and why the new system works
4) Social Studies - examining historical approaches to the plan; investigating what others have done and interviewing participants
5) Arts - designing plans/brochures for project

Of course, this sounds great. It reminds me of PBLs I would do from time to time which are great for this kind of real world, collaborative learning. I would love to see it implemented, but, and Giessman makes this point as well, what do we do about standardized testing? It seems clear that a massive overhaul of our educational system would have to happen for us to even begin to think about this kind of approach in American public schools.

I completely agree that our students are ready for this, but is our government? Our teachers?

What Knowledge, Skills, and Attitudes Do You Think Your Students Will Need to Be Successful? Are You Teaching to Their Needs?

I think that after the last couple of weeks of class, it has become increasingly clear that students of the 21st Century need an incredible amount of skill in a vast array of areas, the most signifcant, in my opinion, is reading. (Of course, I'm going to say that!) Why reading? Without reading, the skills that need to occur, like technology literacy or interpersonal dialogue, cannot occur. I was just reading a study done that suggests that American boys are becoming more and more disconnected from the written word. The study compares American boys with Finnish boys, whose formal education does not begin until age 7 or 8. Yet, Finland consistently beats the US in both standardized test scores and student GPA and is near the top of the list every year, and a lot of the reason is attributed to the importance of reading among the entire population of Finland. Very few of my students read novels, or even newspapers and magazines, of their own choice. This, I think, is one of the most serious problems we have; not only is their little reading going on, there is little encouragement to even begin to read. When I asked my students how many of their homes have books openly displayed, over half the class responded no. Our kids are not seeing the importance of the written word and that could be the most crippling blow to our classroom in 2020.

Am I teaching to that need? I really hope so---I'm only on my third novel of the year, but we've done over 20 short stories and poems in class, but I firmly believe that it's quality, not quantity...by forcing, and I do mean forcing, the students to read the novel, I hope to get the value of the book across to them and force them to see the connection they can make from the book to their own lives. If that connection can be made, maybe we have a shot.

What Do The Curriculum Documents For Your Subject/Grade Level Look Like? Are They Easy to Use?

The curriculum documents for my subject area are incredibly user-friendly. Each page is laid out in five sections:

1) Purpose - this details the purpose of this particular unit in this particular course. For example, for a 10th grade level, College Prep American Literature course: By reading, analyzing, evaluating and discussing several short narratives, students will develop an understanding of how these works laid the groundwork for later American literature. Students will identify various literary themes throughout the works. They will use background information to identify and evaluate the themes of a play while paying close attention to character development.

2) Student Outcome - this details the learning objectives for that unit. For example:
Distinguish fact from opinion.
Understand simile and imagery as seen in various American Indian poetry.
Focus on historical narrative and understand that the narratives lay groundwork for later American literature.
Understand the purpose of a work.
Understand allusion.

This is just a sampling of the outcomes for this unit.

3) Content Outline - here the actual works to be studied are outlined, with the purpose behind each selection:
“A Spectacle of Great Beauty” by Christopher Columbus with focus upon fact and opinion.
The War God’s Horse Song, A Dancing Song, Firefly Song and other Native American poems with an emphasis on simile, imagery, and repetition.
“The Iroquois Constitution” with emphasis on metaphor.
“The Narrative of His Journal” by deVaca with focus on historical narratives.
“The New Land” by John Smith with focus on the purpose of a work.
“The History of Plymouth Plantation” by Bradford with emphasis on allusion.
“The Trial of Martha Carrier” by Mather with emphasis on tone.

4) Procedures/Frameworks - here is where an almost day-by-day lesson objectives/activities are laid out:
Using background for The New Land, students will identify the three geographical groups.
Each day students will be presented with a journal entry that will be relevant to the topic for that day. (Ability to connect topic to present lifestyles.)
Write a letter to Columbus as the King of Spain indicating three areas about which you want more information. Explain the reasons for the interest.
Stories are all read in class with discussion, evaluation, and analysis for each one.
Reading checks are given randomly in order to keep students on task with work.
Vocabulary words are distributed each Monday, defined for Wednesday when they will be discussed, and students will expect a quiz on these words each Friday.
Poetry discussion in groups – look for imagery, simile, metaphor. Present findings/analysis to classmates.
Again, this is just a sampling.

5) References and Resources - here is simply a list of materials needed for this unit:
Teacher-prepared handouts, quizzes, study guides.
Prentice Hall Literature – Timeless Voices, Timeless Themes
The Crucible and “The Crucible” video

As you can see, these are incredibly easy to use while also going into a great amount of detail.

Motivation?

Question: Why are American students lacking in motivation?

The above question is a blatant generality. I know it. However, I’m willing to bet dollars to doughnuts that everyone reading this post will have, at one point in their careers, have struggled with the challenge of motivating a student to do what they want them to do. I think so much of what we do is motivation; so much of what our parents must do at home is motivation. The connection between student achievement and success on assessment (including standardized tests) has to lie with motivation. For years, Americans have been relegated to the shadows while our competitors in other countries consistently beat us with regards to achievements in practically every aspect of education. The answer has to lie in motivation.

Now, don’t get me wrong. For every news story about how American students are falling behind our Asian competition, there is a complimentary story about an inspiring teacher or coach who gets their class or team to succeed when either everyone else has given up or the odds are insurmountable. Well, as I sit here in the hospital waiting for the nurse to come back with our new son, I’ve been reading of one such story, so I thought I’d share it with you.

Have you ever read Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson? It’s the story of a mountain climber who gets lost on his way down from the summit of K2 who stumbles into a Pakistani village; first he is captivated by the villagers’ hospitality, but as he recovers from exposure, he begins to realize the educational system the Pakistanis have in place, which is next to nothing. Because the village cannot afford a teacher, the Pakistani government provides one, albeit at a rate of one dollar a day; the teacher does not even stay for a period of time, either. The village shares the teacher with another village and the students in this village only see the teacher three days a week. Mortenson describes what the children do when the teacher is absent:
After the last note of the anthem had faded, the children sat in a neat circle and began copying their multiplication tables. Most scratched in the dirt with sticks they’d brought for that purpose. The more fortunate, like Jahan [the village chief’s granddaughter], had slate boards they wrote on with sticks dipped in a mixture of mud and water. “Can you imagine a fourth-grade class in America, alone, without a teacher, sitting there quietly and working on their lessons?” Mortenson asks (32).
The novel details Mortenson’s attempts to build a school in this remote village in the mountains of Pakistan. He goes through frustration with fundraising, confrontations with village elders, and other problems before he can build his school, and what starts out as one school, becomes over 50. I picked the passage above to share because I felt the answer to the question I asked lies in this passage. Kids in Pakistan are so grateful for every shred of education they receive; they will draw their math in the dirt to continue the education. Would our kids go so far? Of course, some would. Who is ultimately responsible for this motivation? (I guess I’m ending a question with a question, so sorry about that.)

What Should be Done About Standardized Tests?

The question: Should there be less standardized testing in the current school system, or more? Should all schools, including colleges, institute exit exams?

The answer: Yes.

It should be that easy, right?

The gentlemen quoted in this article all give the right answers to these questions, but all of them lack a method to figuring out how to go about it. Popham says, "Standardized tests can be written that accurately measure a school's instructional effectiveness...", but how? Does it become the responsibility of the school to individually measure its students by creating its own standardized tests? That is what my school does, but I have yet to see that data unequivocally states that this is the most effective method. My school also does not assess any midterms or finals, so think about that, too.

Zemsky's questions regarding standardized testing is very crucial. He questions who is being tested, the teacher or the student? What is being tested: the material learned of the teacher's method of teaching it? Again, vital questions to ask, but what is the best method? He does make a point of saying how the tests simply measure who the best test-takers are.

Toch makes the most significant statement regarding these tests and bias when he mentions NCLB's consequences for schools that fail to make progress with "the poor, students of color, English language learners, and the disabled." For years, this has been my most significant criticism of the HSPAs: its unfairness to ESL students. I would have a student who was in my classroom for a month, recently transplanted from another country, who would be forced to take the HSPA. How fair is that? We basically set him up for failure. Toch also goes on to say the skills being tested are lower level skills and legislators fear of raising the bar because it may lead to more kids failing.

Neill has the most significant statement in the whole article: "High school grade point average is a better predictor of college success than either the SAT or the ACT." Enough said.

And finally, we end withe Caperton of The College Board, who inundates us with his propaganda, who basically reverses Neill's opinion: "The SAT, in combination with the grade point average, provides students, parents and admissions counselors with the best predictor or academic success in college."

I got a 990 on the SATs. OK, not proud of it. (There are extenuating circumstances, as always...) I only took it once, because I knew I was going to CCM for two years, and then transferring. My GPA in high school was a 3.4...in college, it was a 3.6, and I graduated with honors. Of course, I'm only one person, but my two cents says SATs and other standardized tests are not the way to go.

NCLB/State Testing/Teaching to the Test

When NCLB first come on the scene, I was a first year teacher, so I had already met all the "highly qualified" standards that NCLB implied. This was really my first experience with it. I remember all this pressure for veteran teachers to adhere to the new standards, but as far as I know, most veteran teachers didn't take it too seriously. As I earned more and more experience, the implications of NCLB became clearer, especially when I got a greater understanding of what it said about standardized testing and the teachers' roles in preparing for that standardized testing.

State testing, as well as SAT testing, accounts for much more of my curriculum that I would like. I would love to give assessments the way I think they should be given, not modeled after a particular type of test. In order for me to adequately prepare my students for these tests, I cannot just start teaching these "test-taking" skills a month prior. I need to model my assessments and writings after what the College Board and the HSPAs are doing so that the students feel comfortable with these types of assessments all year long, not just a month prior.

When I create an assessment, I usually have either a SAT test prep book near me (I say "book" lightly; the thing is as thick as the King James Bible, so "tome" may be more appropriate) so I can model not only my questions, but my directions after the test questions and directions. When I grade my assessments, sometimes (not always), I use the SAT or HSPA writing rubric to grade my students, again, so they are prepared for the types of grades they will receive. When this is done, ideally the students will some sense of comfort when they go in and take these tests that they've seen all this stuff before. When it comes closer to test time, that's when I get into more deliberate and intentional "teaching to the test".

As much as I hate to say, it is acceptable to "teach to the test" in many circumstances. Just the term "high-stakes testing" makes it so. I've heard that term about five times from administrators this season, in regards to the state tests. It's pretty much taken for granted that English and math teachers are doing deliberate HSPA test prep in thier classrooms. It's pretty much mandated that we're using the HSPA practice workbook and all the wonderful exercises that are in it. However, the bottom line is that the kids need to pass this test, if not to improve some skill, than to at least graduate high school. I have two classes of lower level students who this type of "teaching to the test" is expected. It is necessary as well. Teaching to the test is acceptable in this situation because these kids need to feel comfortable and confident in their abilites to take these tests. I start off the year addresses all of these skills in direct instruction and repeated practice. Then we apply these skills to novels and short stories read in class. Then in February, we go back to this direct instruction and what they've done in the fall helps them in this crucial stage: right before the test. The students should now be at the point where they are comfortable and confident in thier abilities, especially considering the test is two days away.

How Do You and Teachers in Your School Use Standardized Test Results?

How DON'T we use them? That is the question...

Standardized tests, unfortunately, mandate a great deal of a high school student's future in regard to classroom/level placement, indicators of future performance, and overall, a student's morale and self-esteem. The example most relevant to me is for my juniors taking the HSPAs...if these kids fail the HSPAs, they must then be placed in the English Skills 12 class, or the SRA class. For those of you unfamiliar with the SRA, it is the state-mandated "substitute" for passing the HSPAs. It involves completing an assortment of reading and writing tasks which are quite repetitive unless the student happens to achieve a passing grade on the SRA task immediately, which is rare. As you might expect, this process is less than thrilling. Necessary, but not the most motivating experience. This experience, however, is quite a motivator to PASS the HSPAs the first time around.

The results of the HSPA experience also mandate pretty much the senior year of the student; if the student fails, they go to the SRA class; if they just barely pass, they go to the English 4 class, which is like the SRA class without that name and a bit more variety; if they pass well, they have their choice of senior English class: anything from Film Analysis to Psychology in Literature.

The process is virtually the same for the sophomores and freshman, who have to take our individual standardized tests which can have the same results for them as the juniors: lower placement for next year's English. Why does it always seem that it's lower placement? I've never heard of a student who scores so high on a standardized test that they move him up to Honors or AP. That being said, I have had an Honors student fail the HSPAs and have to take both the SRA class and Honors English their senior year...

In a nutsell, the scope of standardized tests is far reaching and affects a great deal of the student's educational experience. Unfortunate.

Formative Assessment That Empowers

Sign me up to work in Armstrong, PA! I loved Brookhart, et. al.'s vignette about the initiative used in Armstrong; in fact, I was really surprised at how much support the teachers and students received. I'm not surprised by how effective the formative assessment was...I think it goes without saying that teachers and students who are allowed to discover opportunites for authentic learning for themselves are going to not only become more motivated, but also ensure that learning truly occurs. I also loved seeing how these endeavors helped increase performance on state tests, which unfortunately is where the realistic implications of this kind of program become clear.

I've addressed this topic before, of student ownership over the learning occurring in their classroom. It becomes increasingly clear the more articles and success stories one reads of this, the higher the stakes for ownership become. The authors relate several stories of success where ownership becomes a part of the classroom and the teachers' role shifts from instructor to facilatator. Again, this is a crucial paradigm shift in our instruction that we need to make more room for in our classrooms. One unit where I think I do this successfully is at the beginning of our study of "Huck Finn"...students go around to different learning centers to understand, analyze, and finally, create material all based around the novel: historical background, connections to students' lives, controversy surrounding, etc. You can see the learning happening on the students' faces and when it comes time to "formally" assess, the evidence is clear that learning has occurred.

This article also reinforced another aspect of this ownership, and that is the use of informing students of the learning objective [target]. This all goes back again to the use of rubrics ahead of time, so students have a clear understanding what is being asked of them. Another aspect that I liked was upping the level on class discussion and discourse. So many times, we rely on that vague concept of "discussion" to get things done, and I've seen some teachers able to do an amazing job with just discussion, and I've been able to learn from them, but I still have a long way to go. Discussion can really fall flat, but the example given here is one where discussion can come alive that doesn't have to really connect to students to really work, for example, when discussing a controversial issue. That doesn't have to be the only impetus for solid class discussion if handled right from the teacher.

My Tests vs. Standardized Tests - Parent's Challenge

I'm not sure what's being criticized here: the amount of time given or the content of my tests vs. the state tests. I justify the amount of time I spend on tests because assessment is a vital aspect of any class's curriculum. At its basic level, it holds the students accountable for the material being learned. At a deeper level, it strengthens the skills that go along with test taking. A serious concern in my school district is the absence of midterms or finals. The common complaint I have with this is that we are not teaching our students to EVER sit for a test. When a student goes in for the first time for that HSPA test in March, and sits for 3+ hours for the test, that is a shock. Just the feeling of sitting for three hours and testing is a shock, let alone the feeling of actually testing. Whenever possible, I have my students write for the entire period; usually about once every two weeks, if time allows. I do this to not only test the certain writing skills I'm working on, but also to get used to sitting for that time and testing. You'd be surprised (or maybe you wouldn't) at how so many of my students can't sit for that amount of time...we're talking 40 minutes here! What happens when they get to 3 hours? Or even 4+ hours on the SAT! My respone to any parent who would challenge this time I spend on writing would be shown the data and evidence of their child's writing and to show that this is not time wasted, but time NEEDED.

My second argument, if the challenge happens to be content based, would be that I model my tests on the HSPAs and SATs. We have a big push in our school for higher SAT scores (real original, right?) so the way I try to incorporate more SAT info in my curriculum is to model my writing assignments on the SAT writing assignments; for example, every week, my students have to write on a quote that I put on the board; this comes from the new SAT writing section, which allows 25 minutes for students to write on a quote that the SAT provides...they have to prove it true or false, and explain reasons why. This should be at least a three paragraph response. By doing this, I'm attempting to help the students become more familiar with the testing material so when it does appear in front of them on a Saturday morning, the fear and trepidation will give way to familiarity and comfort.

Standardized Writing Assessment

I was interested reading this article, especially seeing what other states have to offer in terms of standardized writing assessments. I did like Florida's requirement of a writing assessment for graduation. I do think that although the HSPAs are flawed, I do agree with its approach to assessing writing. The Holistic rubric does allow for some growth and it's written in a way that the kids can understand the grade they received. I was just doing this lesson today actually: I take several writing examples from a persuasive writing task and the class grades them using the state rubric. By doing this, the kids can recognize what a "2" paper is and say, "Hey, I know I don't want to do that, so what can I do to get the "4"'s and "5"'s? Now tomorrow they will go in and write on the same prompt that we went over in class today and hopefully learn from yesterday's lesson.

I don't enjoy teaching to the test, but really, this is the reality that our kids are living in. I can't, in good conscience, send them in to this test in 4 weeks with no preparation.

When the article goes on to talk about how technology is changing this, I remembered something I used to use called Criterion. The article goes on to describe something similar to this. This was an online writing assessment with the Holistic Scoring Guide built into it...kids would write on a persuasive prompt or a picture prompt and the computer, within a minute, would come back with the grade on the scale for them. It was most effective as a first draft, I felt...I always made kids rewrite what they wrote, even if it came back as a six...if it came back as a six, then I would tell the kids to strengthen their compositional risks, which I think is the hardest thing to get right on the HSPA...using techniques like flashback or a different point of view on a picture prompt, or taking a specific tone on a persuasive task.

To close, let me just reiterate how important it is that kids know this criteria/rubric ahead of time. The author goes on to say that kids can eventually use this information to create a rubric of their own, and that I think is the logical next step.

RAFT

Although I've never been in this exact situation before, I have had some experience in disappointing parents with bad news, so here we go!



Mr. Craig = MC

Angry Parent = AP



MC = "Good morning, Mrs. Underhill. This is Dan Craig, supervisor for the most expensive, and therefore, best school in the state. I'm calling to touch base with you about Casey's English placement for next year. I see you are pushing for her to remain in Honors, while her teacher has recommended her for the College Prep class. Is that about right?"



AP = "Yes, that's correct. And I have to say, that it's been a struggle all year. Casey's an Honors student, she has been for the last two years in English, and furthermore, she has maintained a B average. Now this year, she is lucky to get a C. I would like to know what is going on in this classroom and why this teacher's assignments are harder than in the past."



MC = "Well, that is certainly a valid question and I thank you for bringing it to my attention. Can I ask...what has been your contact with the teacher this year?"



AP = "Well, we've spoken on several occassions. He called at the beginning of the year to introduce himself, we met at back to school night, and then when Casey failed her first essay, he called me to discuss it, which I appreciated, but at the same time, I didn't see how she could've gotten the grade she did."



MC = "OK...thank you for that. To get back to what you were asking, I entirely agree that the assignments get harder as the students progress in the Honors track. The texts become harder to read and interpret, and as such, the teacher begins to ask more from the students regarding their analysis essays. The rubrics that are used in class are made familiar to the students prior to the assignment so the students are well aware of the assignment and expectations. This is part of the Honors program and part of the preparation for the college courses that Casey is enthusiastic about. Now, I have met with Casey and she intimated to me that while she wants to do better in this particular class, she admits a lack of interest in a lot of the material. Were you aware of this?"



AP = "Yes, but we've shown Casey that this is not an option. We've told her that she may have to take classes that she is not interested in and she still has to push herself to get all the work done and do the best she can."



MC = "And I agree with setting high expectations for our kids, but Casey will still be challenged in college level course, particularly at the senior level. Can I ask, what extracurriculars is Casey involved?"



AP = "Well, she does track, swim team, and debate, and she has a job at Shop-Rite, so she's a busy girl."



MC = "Well, that may be part of the issue, as well. It may benefit her greatly to drop down to this college prep level, considering all of what we've discussed today: the teacher recommendation, the grade output, the writing, her extracurriculars...is she in any other Honors courses?"



AP = "Yes, but she wants to become an English teacher, and she feels that being in Honors will look really good on her transcripts."



MC = "Well, I'm not convinced that that's the best reason to remain a "C"/"D" student in an Honors class. While some people subscribe to that philosophy that a "C" in Honors is like a "B" in a college prep class, it will affect her GPA as she moves forward. Furthermore, her HSPA scores are only proficient, not advanced, which would indicate that Honors is really where she does belong, but her score is only a 236, which is certainly good, but well below advanced proficient. When you look at her writing scores, coupled with the writing samples from her English class, she just does not meet the criteria for Honors at this time."



AP = "Mr. Craig, I hear you and I thank you for your input, but I strongly feel that she should be in this Honors class. If you're telling me that it's impossible, I'd like to hear some kind of alternative."



MC = "Well, Mrs. Underhill, the alternative is for Casey to go into this College Prep class next year. However, I can propose this. If you are truly concerned that Casey is not being challenged enough by this College Prep course, she can participate in our after school enrichment program. This is a program made for students who either need some help with assignment, or want to be pushed further and do more with their writing and reading. Casey is an ideal candidate for this type of program, and we should be able to see some marked improvement in her writing from this program within a month of taking it. Would that be something you'd be interested in looking into?"

AP = "Well, I am disappointed, but this program does sound like a solution to our problem. Let's go with the college prep placement and look into this after school program in some more depth."

MC = "Great. I think that's the best decision. Is there anything else you wish to discuss?"

AP = "No thank you. Thanks for your time today."

MC = "No problem at all. I'll send you a copy of the literature on our after school program. Thanks again."

AP = "Thank you."

What Data Do I Use in my Classroom?

Like I said earlier, there is so much data at my fingertips...I go back to writing because it is such a strong feature of my classroom. I remember I used to do all different kinds of projects which involved elaborate cutting and pasting, painting, decoration, and so on and so on. After I while, I said why? The only thing these projects measure is how artistic my students can be. Now, don't get me wrong, I know that these type of projects, if given the right parameters, can be rewarding and enable the kids for success. But they need to be limited in the English classroom.



Data takes many forms...essays, grammar, content, style, syntax, etc...Students keep a writing portfolio in my class to see how their writing has improved over the course of the year and this has been successful in this aspect. This data enables me to adjust assignments accordingly, to meet individually with my students on their particular writing issues and I can create future assessments based on what they've had trouble with in the past.

Really this just scratches the surface of the data used in my classroom...test and quiz scores, informal writing, formal writing, personality of students, IEPs, 504s, parental influence...all of this data affects how I go about what I do in the classroom. The data is overwhelming, and, in reality, underused.

How Have Assessments Influenced My Life?

I guess when you really think about that question, you have to take into consideration everything that testing implies: the pressure, the rewards, the planning, the preparation, the creation, etc. So many people are fond of saying that life is a test, and to a degree, that's true, but I've found that this changes drastically the older I get.

When I was in high school, I'm sorry to say, I don't think I ever got too upset or worried about any test beforehand (save for my driver's test). I probably didn't get really serious about tests until college, and then that's because I finally realized then why education was important. Probably the most significant tests I've taken are the Praxis exams...my whole future rode on the outcome of those tests. But I'll always remember once I had taken all the Praxis exams I would take, every student had to take the equivalency of an eighth-grade math test to teach high school in NJ. This freaked me out like nothing else; I had never received higher than a C in any math class in school. Now this one test was going to decide if I got a license to teach high school English? What does math have to do with that? (As I was about to realize, quite a lot, actually). So, after the initial trepidation and anxiety, I passed the test. Done and done.

Now that so much of my professional life involves creating assessment, testing has taken on a stronger role. I wish that assessment was addressed more when I was an undergrad...I think it would have made my first year that much easier. When I first started teaching, my district emphasized "individual measurement" of each assessment or "How is each individual student assessed on this test?" That was such a foreign concept at first, I wasn't sure how to proceed, but of course, the answers became clear.

Testing influences my life because I have to look at how each student will respond to the most recent test I am creating...I am forced to create different assessments while balancing the needs of the state mandated testing to give my students the tools needed to, in the short term, write the persuasive essay, and in the long term, be a better person. Can testing accomplish all that?

Response to Data Article

I was intrigued by this article, because so much of it rings true. There is such an overwhelming amount of data to be analyzed in a school setting: standardized test scores, research paper grades, etc. When I really take a look at an assignment's average, I hate to admit, but the class average is actually quite low. What am I doing wrong here for the class to get such a low grade on a vocab test? The grading program used at our school is actually ideal for this kind of analysis, but again, I hate to admit, that the time given to this analysis is not easy to find, nor is it particularly mandated. For years, I taught the SRA course, the course that seniors who fail the HSPA, are required to take. I always remember hounding the director of guidance for the results of the October HSPA and then giving a quick read through those results just to see if my kids passed. For years, this constituted my data analysis.

Morrison says, "The problem is that we frame data as an entity teachers need to meet and engage with, rather than as information that rises organically out of teachers' work with learners". She is absolutely correct...how many times do we go over this kind of analysis with our kids? I post grades every week, so the onus is on the kids to review their grade, but at least once a marking period, I take the students aside to really review where they are at as far as grades go...This does help in the grade breakdown, but I feel that I do a better job of it when I look at their writing.

One technique I picked up a few years ago to help kids with their writing is to have them complete a "Sentence Opener Sheet". This is a handout where students take one of their essays and analyze it. On this sheet are three columns: one for the first four words of every sentence, one for the amount of words in that sentence, and one for whatever skill I'm working on at that time...verbs or adjectives, let's say. Once completed, this forces kids to analyze how each sentence they write in a particular essay begins, and how many words they use in each sentence. Then I can take those results and graph them so they see the frequency of each. If their graph is up and down, they've done a good job of varying their sentences and openers. If their graph is flatline, they need to work on that. As I was reading this article, I kept coming back to that exercise in class.

To get back to Morrison's article, I think her concept of the data notebook is well-meaning and probably effective, but I'm not convinced it can work without careful collaboration with all the stakeholders there...the students, and even the parents. She even hints at the collaboration between teachers and teachers, as well as teachers and administrators. I think this was the key item for success in this endeavor.