When did teaching become a chore? T.A.K.S. came upon the scene and took our dreams away. My passion is seeing the light bulb of understanding go on in a student's eye but lately the filament has burned out. Neither student nor teacher is deriving any sense of joy from the focus on the "TEST." Now that it has been duly administered, nailing jello to the wall is easier than keeping middle school students focused on any subject matter. I am just starting out with this blog thing so guide me in the learning process.
butterfly angel
2 comments:
Standardized testing has it's place, I'm sure, but I can understand the frustration partly because I hail from a family of educators, but mostly because I can remember taking them myself.
I think the worst year was when the Tx school district I was educated in had us take the ITBS (Iowa Test of Basic Skills), the COGAT (Forget what that one stood for. I think that it was to be used to steer we young 'uns toward a career) and the TEAMS (ancestor to the TAKS) in the same year.
That was 20 years ago.
Personally, I felt more challeneged as a student and found myself paying a lot closer attention to lessons geared towards learning instead of lessons geared towards a standardized exam. Just my $0.02
There comes a point in time when legislators, very few who are actually educators, feel the need to show that they are actually doing something to "help the children." They are doing this in Texas by creating the lottery and funneling the money to everywhere else but into the education system. They pass laws outlawing dance routines. They have held funding to school districts causing numerous people to lose their jobs or move to other districts, taking pay cuts.
With AYP and NCLB, there are now new pressures placed on educators to perform. The exemption standards are way too low and those who have passed the national laws probably have not spent too much time in a Texas classroom.
Administrators and school board members are demanding results and it is the teacher that is getting the brunt of it all.
In the classroom you have a decision to make. Should you or should you not stress out over state assessments. Speaking as one who has been there, I found out that if you teach what they need to be taught, they will perform.
-Wonko
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