Harry, my wife said her grandmother used to say that all the time. I've never heard it anywhere but you two!

 

Love it!

 

Surprised you never heard it from your wife! lol

 

Telling ya, the best sayings come from those old timers....

 

My grandpa used to say that, then also say "6 in one half, half a dozen in the other..however you want to look at it" when stating how something was the same. I use that one all the time.

Part of the problem is the way in which we test and quantify where we rank with other countries. I don't buy the fact some of these countries "ranked" ahead of us actually are more educated. A majority of these countries only educate the select few and millions of children go uneducated by modern standards. If we got to select just our elite minds these results would be much different.

 

This is exactly right...couple it with the fact that most students (at least in secondary school) are testing 10-15 days (or 5-8% of your total "instructional time") out of the year and you have a system where students are being set up for failure and at the very least are not being put in the best environment for fostering learning.

My wife is a teacher so I get a download every night (good husband that I am:lol2:).

 

But these are MY opinions:

The obsession with testing is helping to justify a lot of central office jobs, but not helping our children to get smarter. I agree 100% with Harry Doyle, there has to be a value placed on education at the home/family/cultural level for the child to succeed. I agree there is no quick fix, but I heard a nice phrase one time: THERE IS NO SUBSTITUTE FOR STARTING. Entitlement systems are the enemy of values and motivation thus education. They must be revised to be a hand-UP not hand-OUT. Education incentives must be a part of this.

I guess eighteen years under my belt has made me a veteran teacher, too. Overall, I disagree with the teacher.

 

There has been a shift from TEACHING to LEARNING. I know that sounds a little crazy, because we teach so that kids learn. However, is it enough to say that we've taught something, therefore the kids should learn it?

 

Research shows that humans have to experience things several times in multiple way to truly learn something. But how do we know that kids have learned something? We have to assess it.

 

Follow along with me on this analogy.

 

Scenario A. You go to your doctor for a physical. She discovers that you have high blood pressure and starts you on a diet and exercise regimen and schedules a follow up. With not much improvement, she puts you on a light medication and schedules you another follow up. This time it works.

 

Scenario B. You have a stroke, due to your high blood pressure. This is determined by another doctor during your autopsy.

 

Data and assessment in education is meant to work like scenario A as opposed to old school scenario B. Let me explain how this looks in my classroom. Many of you know that I teach chemistry, physics and astronomy at a rural high school.

 

Before I begin a unit of study in one my classes, I have developed a set of "learning target" for my students. These are things that the student should be able to do when we test. I give them a copy of the learning targets and we will use that copy daily. That way, they know ahead of time what exactly is expected of them. These learning targets are developed from whatever standards exist for what I am teaching. For example, for chemistry and physics, I use the ACT Quality Core standards, which are designed to present a rigorous curriculum for those subjects.

 

I do whatever is best practice in my instruction for that unit. This includes direct instruction, small groups, pairs, demonstrations, visual representations, discussions, etc. There will be in class practice that is not graded, but completed to help develop skills. There is homework...but we can never use homework as a lone tool to judge what someone actually knows and can do.

 

Twice during the unit, we will do a "learning check." This would be similar to a quiz, but each question is tied in directly to one of the unit learning targets. This allows me to analyze the data that I get from the learning check. Before, if we took a quiz and a kid scored a 65%, I'd know that the kid was failing, but I couldn't pinpoint his exact weaknesses. Back to my analogy, it's like going to the doctor and the doctor saying you are sick, you need to get better, take an aspirin. Now I can say, you have this specific illness, you need to do this specific thing to get better.

 

After the learning check, I have an enrichment/remediation day. Kids receive a print out of where they are with each learning target. If they have mastered all assessed learning targets (mastery usually equated to 80% or better), then they will be assigned one or more enrichment activities that extend the learning of that unit. For each learning target that they are "near mastery" (70%) or "remediation" (

 

This is different then the old "let's review for the test" days. First, there are kids that don't need the review. They've already got it. Should they have to sit and watch others learn or should they have their learning extended and enriched? Secondly, every kid has certain skills they know better than others. So, it gives the student (and me) specific knowledge of what remediation they need, as opposed to reviewing everything. It makes our time in class more valuable for everyone.

 

In the end, we still test. But, what I am seeing at ALL levels of my teaching, in all classes, is that students KNOW the material and skills better than before. The grade you earn in the class it not based on inflated "daily" scores that help you pass without knowing the skills. But, moreso, it helps me help kids know those stills, which is what education should be about.

 

Sorry for the long post. Education is my passion. It has changed in my nearly two decades of teaching, but the results in my classroom are for the better.

I guess eighteen years under my belt has made me a veteran teacher, too. Overall, I disagree with the teacher.

 

There has been a shift from TEACHING to LEARNING. I know that sounds a little crazy, because we teach so that kids learn. However, is it enough to say that we've taught something, therefore the kids should learn it?

 

Research shows that humans have to experience things several times in multiple way to truly learn something. But how do we know that kids have learned something? We have to assess it.

 

Follow along with me on this analogy.

 

Scenario A. You go to your doctor for a physical. She discovers that you have high blood pressure and starts you on a diet and exercise regimen and schedules a follow up. With not much improvement, she puts you on a light medication and schedules you another follow up. This time it works.

 

Scenario B. You have a stroke, due to your high blood pressure. This is determined by another doctor during your autopsy.

 

Data and assessment in education is meant to work like scenario A as opposed to old school scenario B. Let me explain how this looks in my classroom. Many of you know that I teach chemistry, physics and astronomy at a rural high school.

 

Before I begin a unit of study in one my classes, I have developed a set of "learning target" for my students. These are things that the student should be able to do when we test. I give them a copy of the learning targets and we will use that copy daily. That way, they know ahead of time what exactly is expected of them. These learning targets are developed from whatever standards exist for what I am teaching. For example, for chemistry and physics, I use the ACT Quality Core standards, which are designed to present a rigorous curriculum for those subjects.

 

I do whatever is best practice in my instruction for that unit. This includes direct instruction, small groups, pairs, demonstrations, visual representations, discussions, etc. There will be in class practice that is not graded, but completed to help develop skills. There is homework...but we can never use homework as a lone tool to judge what someone actually knows and can do.

 

Twice during the unit, we will do a "learning check." This would be similar to a quiz, but each question is tied in directly to one of the unit learning targets. This allows me to analyze the data that I get from the learning check. Before, if we took a quiz and a kid scored a 65%, I'd know that the kid was failing, but I couldn't pinpoint his exact weaknesses. Back to my analogy, it's like going to the doctor and the doctor saying you are sick, you need to get better, take an aspirin. Now I can say, you have this specific illness, you need to do this specific thing to get better.

 

After the learning check, I have an enrichment/remediation day. Kids receive a print out of where they are with each learning target. If they have mastered all assessed learning targets (mastery usually equated to 80% or better), then they will be assigned one or more enrichment activities that extend the learning of that unit. For each learning target that they are "near mastery" (70%) or "remediation" (

 

This is different then the old "let's review for the test" days. First, there are kids that don't need the review. They've already got it. Should they have to sit and watch others learn or should they have their learning extended and enriched? Secondly, every kid has certain skills they know better than others. So, it gives the student (and me) specific knowledge of what remediation they need, as opposed to reviewing everything. It makes our time in class more valuable for everyone.

 

In the end, we still test. But, what I am seeing at ALL levels of my teaching, in all classes, is that students KNOW the material and skills better than before. The grade you earn in the class it not based on inflated "daily" scores that help you pass without knowing the skills. But, moreso, it helps me help kids know those stills, which is what education should be about.

 

Sorry for the long post. Education is my passion. It has changed in my nearly two decades of teaching, but the results in my classroom are for the better.

 

Can you come and teach at an NKY high school? Pretty please?

Can you come and teach at an NKY high school? Pretty please?

 

I do have a lot of friends there!