Last week the library was shut for 3 mornings for mock testing. This week the library is shut for 2 mornings for mock testing. Not real testing, mock testing.
Let's mock testing then. Here goes:
1. What is the best way to prepare students for a test?
a. Mock testing and lots of it
b. Teaching the material in an engaging way
c. Encouraging students to reading and pursue their own interests, as students can do in the library
2. What is the best way to encourage a love of learning?
a. Mock testing and lots of it
b. Teaching the material in an engaging way
c. Encouraging students to reading and pursue their own interests, as students can do in the library
3. What is the best way to improve students' language skills?
a. Mock testing and lots of it
b. Teaching the material in an engaging way
c. Encouraging students to reading and pursue their own interests, as students can do in the library
4. What is the best way to measure student progress in the elementary years?
a. Through tests written and graded by people who don't know the students
b. Through a portfolio of work
c. Through a test written by the teacher who taught the material
d. B & C
5. What is the best way to teach elementary school students?
a. Work backwards by preparing for a test written by other people
b. Teach the material in an engaging way, allowing for the occasional tangent dictated by the students' interests
6. What is the best homework for elementary school students?
a. None
b. Some review
c. Projects that can only be done with parental help
d. Projects that can be done alone
e. Reading
f. Worksheets with the words "Test Prep" plastered all over them.
In case it's not clear, I object to BOTH the mock testing and the fact that any of it takes place in the school library, thereby depriving classes of their library period. (Students who require special accommodations, such as extra time, are tested in the library.) The library is also used for nearly every meeting or event that takes place in the building. Yes, our school is in Manhattan, and yes, it's only 3 stories, and yes, we have limited space, but is there really no other room that can be used? No one would dream of using the art room or the music room. Why not?
Showing posts with label Testing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Testing. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 10, 2015
Monday, April 7, 2014
Taking All the Fun Out of It
My third-grade daughter normally has to keep a reading log (and you know how I feel about that!) as well as write 1-2 paragraphs per week about the books she is reading, which are due on Mondays. But the last two weeks, she had to do neither, in order to lessen the workload on the days surrounding the NYS ELA tests (another topic about which I have a lot to say). I've been sick with what was first the flu and then pneumonia (that, plus our move into a still-being-renovated apartment account for my online absence lately), and this weekend her sister and dad were sick too. We couldn't entertain her much. My husband was worried that she was bored. But I knew better.
She was thrilled. Thrilled to have time to read just for fun. She read two books in their entirety and started another, and possibly finished another one in there. I read to her. She went to the library and checked out thirteen books (nowhere near her record of 27!), ranging from classics (Daddy-Long-Legs) to junk (every balanced diet - reading or otherwise - needs some junk).
She read and she read and she read. And she was so happy.
Sure, there's something to be said for reading deeply and analyzing what you are reading. But there's also a lot to be said for just reading for pleasure. Reading to be taken out of yourself. Reading to get absorbed in a story, in someone else's life, in the rhythm of the words. And I know that even this type of reading has all sorts of educational benefits: my daughter's vocabulary astounds me. She never opens a dictionary. She has learned from context. (That's why the best SAT prep is not vocab lists but reading.) But even if reading for pleasure had no educational value, who cares? There's nothing wrong with reading solely for pleasure. That's right. There's nothing wrong with reading solely for pleasure.
With high-stakes tests and new curricula and the Common Core, reading for pleasure has all but disappeared. The teachers no longer have time to let the children read independently, just for fun. They no longer have time to read aloud to the class books of their own choosing. What a loss.
Yes, some learning is boring and repetitive, of necessity (think times tables). But if you take the fun out of reading, children aren't going to want to read any more. I hope my daughter always finds joy in reading. And I hope she is granted the gift of time in which to do it.
She was thrilled. Thrilled to have time to read just for fun. She read two books in their entirety and started another, and possibly finished another one in there. I read to her. She went to the library and checked out thirteen books (nowhere near her record of 27!), ranging from classics (Daddy-Long-Legs) to junk (every balanced diet - reading or otherwise - needs some junk).
She read and she read and she read. And she was so happy.
Sure, there's something to be said for reading deeply and analyzing what you are reading. But there's also a lot to be said for just reading for pleasure. Reading to be taken out of yourself. Reading to get absorbed in a story, in someone else's life, in the rhythm of the words. And I know that even this type of reading has all sorts of educational benefits: my daughter's vocabulary astounds me. She never opens a dictionary. She has learned from context. (That's why the best SAT prep is not vocab lists but reading.) But even if reading for pleasure had no educational value, who cares? There's nothing wrong with reading solely for pleasure. That's right. There's nothing wrong with reading solely for pleasure.
With high-stakes tests and new curricula and the Common Core, reading for pleasure has all but disappeared. The teachers no longer have time to let the children read independently, just for fun. They no longer have time to read aloud to the class books of their own choosing. What a loss.
Yes, some learning is boring and repetitive, of necessity (think times tables). But if you take the fun out of reading, children aren't going to want to read any more. I hope my daughter always finds joy in reading. And I hope she is granted the gift of time in which to do it.
Friday, November 29, 2013
None of the Above
A "test prep" reading passage for third-graders about how a Bangladeshi boy created floating schools for children who could not travel to school because of annual flooding was followed by several questions. The last question asked why the author most likely wrote the passage. The correct answer was missing. After all, the author most likely wrote this passage because he got paid to by a big corporation despite his probable lack of teaching experience.
The other questions were poorly constructed. One asked which word best described the boy: nervous, angry, kind or scared. Clearly, kind was the best out of those choices but kind is actually a terrible choice. Off the top of my head, better ones include innovative, creative, and determined.
Another question asked what causes floods:
A. heavy rains
B. overflowing rivers
C. too many people
D. both AND B
At first glance the answer seems to be D. But then I realized that it is the heavy rains which cause the overflowing rivers. So is the answer really just A? Or are they looking for the immediate cause, in which case the answer is B? After all, rivers can overflow without heavy rains - if, for example, a dam breaks. But such a possibility was not discussed in the text. Standardized testing does not reward overthinking. It rewards being able to predict what the testers were thinking.
And ultimately, it rewards the companies which get paid the big bucks to create poorly designed curricula and poorly designed tests. Yes, Pearson, I'm talking about you.
How do you feel about the rise of high-stakes testing and the increasingly lucrative privatization of the test-creation business?
The other questions were poorly constructed. One asked which word best described the boy: nervous, angry, kind or scared. Clearly, kind was the best out of those choices but kind is actually a terrible choice. Off the top of my head, better ones include innovative, creative, and determined.
Another question asked what causes floods:
A. heavy rains
B. overflowing rivers
C. too many people
D. both AND B
At first glance the answer seems to be D. But then I realized that it is the heavy rains which cause the overflowing rivers. So is the answer really just A? Or are they looking for the immediate cause, in which case the answer is B? After all, rivers can overflow without heavy rains - if, for example, a dam breaks. But such a possibility was not discussed in the text. Standardized testing does not reward overthinking. It rewards being able to predict what the testers were thinking.
And ultimately, it rewards the companies which get paid the big bucks to create poorly designed curricula and poorly designed tests. Yes, Pearson, I'm talking about you.
How do you feel about the rise of high-stakes testing and the increasingly lucrative privatization of the test-creation business?
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