Friday, June 24, 2011
Chapter Seven in Daniels and Bizar's Teaching the Best Practice Way
ASSESSMENT! Here we go! Yes, assessment is an important part of what we do. Assessment assists teachers in determining whether or not a child has 'got it!' Assessment of skills is absolutely necessary in education. But there is a concern when we spend more time testing than we do teaching. I see why shareholders want assessments...data. I agree that data is important also but to what extent? To the extent that teachers don't have time to pull small groups to intervene before the next assessment? I appreciate that the book addresses standardized testing (and I bet that I am not the only one who will be writing about this topic this week :) ) and how teachers should address it in the classroom. Don't be run by standardized tests but give your students "the coaching they need to show their best on the tests - and then return to the real business of education, which is nurturing the growth of individual students' thinking, over years, across disciplines, and among collaborators" (p. 224). While that is great coaching for the teachers...how many of us could really react that way?
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In a perfect world, Polly! I have really enjoyed all that I have been reading and I hope and pray that when I go back into the classroom that I have enough flexibility to implement best practices and not be so freaked out about "the TEST."
ReplyDeleteI do agree that students do need to be assessed, but in different ways. Students need to be assessed in ways other than pencil and paper. Standardized tests need to be used appropriately and not in a way that scare the students to death. I do agree that students need to be given the tools to use to master the assessments. All the testing is causing teachers not to have as many teachable moments. This is sad.
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