An Edublogger's Take on Standardized Tests

As research for my debate paper project in Professor Potter's class, I came across an educator's blog concerning his opinion about standardized tests. He is a high school teacher, but his position, location, and name remain unknown. I'm assuming this is the case because his post focused on providing reasons for being a standardized test supporter. I was immediately intrigued by his opening declaration, "“Let me come right out and say it….I am in favor of standardized testing in order for students to get their high school diploma." I was taken by this statement because the person's hesitation and seeming embarrassment about this assertion was pronounced even as text on a blog post. It was as if I could see his cheeks turning red. Regardless of my impression of this person or his opinion (wrong, he's wrong...) I was excited to find a blog that satisfied an assignment for two of my courses and one that related to my life. I even cared about what I was reading and felt some sort of emotion while learning! This man's argument is that we merely shuffle kids through school because we don't want to deal with them, or we give up on them because they are so behind. He asserts that because of our neglect as teachers, we aren't adequately preparing students to be beneficial citizens in society. In this case, I agree with anonymous blogger man. I feel bad for these kids. However, this is why we SMACers don't sleep and work extra hard in order to change the future in our own small, but significant way. So change on, colleagues. Keep kicking butt (and reminding me of assignment due dates)!

Welcome Back to Reality!

So, I'm back at school. We jumped in to classwork and intense conversation and content right away. I'm already tired! However, I am enjoying my placement thus far. My teacher is very enthusiastic, and the students - although quite loud and sometimes quite distracted - are lots of fun. Having visited the classroom only four times, I can not accurately predict how the year will unfold, but I have good feelings about all this. I videotaped my teacher on the first day to capture initial procedures, rules, and conduct. I haven't done much teaching myself yet, so I have had a lot of time to observe things, and I am frequently reminded of this course. I immediately noticed the amount of students carrying and sometimes using cell phones during the school day. I brought this up to a few of the kids today, and they said cell phones were not allowed in the classroom at all. This surprised me because I have seen my teacher tell the students to "Put the phone away or it's mine." on numerous occasions. Her reaction made me believe they were allowed but not for use. Personally, I am tempted to check my phone when the students are doing work, but on the flip side I get annoyed and a bit offended when the students are playing around with their techie toys during my time. I have also been checking out the software and machines available around the school. My teacher hasn't used any technology at all except for a very old c.d. player during an exercise that required students to bring in music that exemplified literary terms. I've noticed multiple computer labs around the school (3 I think) and numerous televisions. In the coming weeks I will keep my eyes sensitive to other forms of technology I see around Romulus. I will also cross my fingers for the students to magically become less talkative!