I have heard the following statements from different educators:
Why are you teaching that…it isn’t on the test!
Why do you need to know this? Because it is on the exam!
If I don’t test, then I won’t know what a student knows!
These statements disgust me!
If you believe tests hold teachers accountable, here is my comment on that.
If you believe that tests cause students to learn material, here is my comment on that.
If you believe tests inform us what students know, here is my comment on that.
I have heard educators, who are required to test their students a month before the end of the course, say the following
“Now that the exam is over, I am going to let you explore!”
It saddens my heart to know that we are required to teach the “boring” stuff to get through all the material for the exam, and after the exam we can then do the “fun” stuff. Tests are robbing students from open-ended, deep meaning, and creative tasks. The statement above is not an indictment to the teacher saying it, but actually the test that forces the teacher to teach as such.
Too many times teachers must tell their students that they are not able to discuss certain passions, due to the timeline of the course. If these teachers don’t follow the timeline as such, there won’t be enough time to prepare them for the useless bubble sheet they will be provided with at the end of the course.
If you are still not convinced, in our province Gr. 3 teachers are required to teach 1352 outcomes, as all these outcomes will be tested on the provincial achievement exam. Is this reasonable?
Don't think about thinking....its not on the test.
It makes me laugh that, in a typically self righteous manner, you are expressing your disgust at other teachers for how they deal with a situation that is systemic in our current model of education. If I have students who are taking AP or IB exams, I am going to make sure they have been exposed to the material that is coming up in these exams. For you to be disgusted at me for doing so is hilarious. I think that if you really want to export your idealistic philosophy then you should aim higher than the teachers and seek wholesale change in the education system from the top down.
ReplyDeleteYour blog is little more than a lengthy troll. If you really are serious about altering the perceptions of others I recommend you do it with more humility.
Well I think you must have misread my blog. I am not disgusted at you, but the system in place for you to teach as such. If, in AP or IB, there were not standardized exams, would you still teach as such? Would you use old exams to test knowledge, or you would let students to create projects?
ReplyDeleteI am not sad at the teacher saying the statement, but at the system forcing the teacher to say it.
Two issues:
ReplyDeletea) "I have heard educators, who are required to test their students a month before the end of the course, say the following
“Now that the exam is over, I am going to let you explore!”
Bee Ess. No teacher in Alberta tests a month before the end of the course. Ergo, you haven't heard that from one of us.
b) " in our province Gr. 3 teachers are required to teach 1352 outcomes, as all these outcomes will be tested on the provincial achievement exam. Is this reasonable?"
More Bee Ess. Dig out an Alberta program of studies, count the grade 3 outcomes. There are in no way, shape, or form 1352 outcomes. Also, in Grade 3, only LA and Math are tested provincially. Also, the department makes it very obvious that only some outcomes in those subjects will be tested.
You think for some reason that you're in the United States, and that the arguments you make echo the rhetoric of NCLB that Alfie spouts, but you're Canadian. Get better data before you try to ramble on about this stuff.
You;re a pretty good guy, Dave, and a better Math teacher. But - this kind of self-serving drivel is beneath you; take a breath, OK?
Your comment to your first issue is simple. I was referring to AP exams which ARE tested a month before the end of the course. Never once did I say Albertan teachers.
ReplyDeleteYour second issue, please correct me then and provide me with the correct number of outcomes in the Gr. 3 program of studies.
Also, you make a point that only some outcomes are tested, this implies that only these outcomes should be emphasized in the class? This sounds a little corrupt to me.
How about for Biology 30 where over 100 outcomes are tested on the diploma? These outcomes are required to be taught in 4 months, not even a year. This is resonable as well, I assume?
So you've HEARD those non-Alberta AP teachers comment "Now that the exam is over, I am going to let you explore!” ??
ReplyDeleteSorry, not buying it.
As for grade 3, you count 'em. 98 Specific Outcomes in LA. 26 In Math.
Not anywhere near 1352, no?
As for your comment about "this implies that only these outcomes should be emphasized in the class? This sounds a little corrupt to me." - I never intimated that only those outcomes should be emphasized. In fact, I consider anybody who ignores the curriculum in favour of 'teaching to the test' to be incompetent and think they should be fired.
And yes, that incompetence is their fault, not the test's fault.
Here's the bottom line; I agree with many of your arguments about teaching, especially about how kids kearn. Stick with those, they are good reading.
Leave the Alfie Kohn wannabe arguments to somebody else... you aren't any good at them (1352 outcomes that will all be tested on the provincial exam???)
I said there are 1352 outcomes in ALL of grade 3. Doesn't matter how many are tested or not, I believe that this is too many outcomes to be covered in one year.
ReplyDeleteSecond...If these tests are so great, why aren't you informing your parents as to their RIGHT to pull their kids from tests? If there are many advantages for these tests, than parents should have no problem choosing to keep their child writing.
Yet.....I highly doubt you will see the participation rate remain where it is, IF all parents become informed of their rights about these standardized exams.
Third, yes I have heard and read teachers saying that..Except I don't blame them, but the system they are teaching in.
Here asked my followers to comment on this...
ReplyDeletehttp://realteachingmeansreallearning.blogspot.com/2011/03/who-is-to-blame-teacher-or-test.html