Reflections on Teaching

I know he won’t be the same as the old boss, who had come up through the ranks, so we had the advantage of knowing exactly what we were getting. In many ways, it was the same direction we’d been going a long time. Not every decision has been a “winner”, but my current district [...]

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Note: This post has been updated from an earlier version to correct links that were incorrect, or had errors.

Photo Credit: lunch note on flickr photosharing
In my first part, I discussed how students could under-perform on a high stakes test, like the California High School Exit Exam ,in a way that has nothing to do with [...]

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Photo Credit: Monopoly Justice on flickr photosharing
In my first part, I discussed how students could under-perform on a high stakes test, like the California High School Exit Exam, in a way that has nothing to do with their true ability or knowledge.
That’s students, it was an article on excessive bonuses that caught my eye with [...]

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Photo Credit: Rorschach Test 1 on flickr photosharing
As I’ve shared already, it’s testing season. This is the second year I’ve been a prep teacher, and therefore not had a specific group of students whose scores I was “tied” to. I’ve also noted that I’m not feeling as angry, stressed, annoyed this testing season, and I [...]

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I must be on auto-pilot (a bad thing) because I don’t have a lot memories about what happened this week. It did end with me attending the Classroom 2.0 Conference and the last thing I did at work was a training for my district. There is something about Friday that gives a “cap stone” to [...]

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I thought I’d come back to a topic I spent a lot of time on in the last month, assessment.
First, the new secretary of education was chosen, Education Week: Obama: Duncan ‘Doesn’t Blink’ on Tough Decisions, but I hadn’t commented on it. I thought the “Doesn’t Blink” comment was a bit “tin-eared” after the Palin [...]

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DONE FOREVER from mr. nightshades photostream
Testing, it is the only objective criteria for assessment isn’t it? How can you be sure that students have “gotten” it if they can spit it back up on a test three months later? How can a test be fair if kids use aids like a calculator, how do we [...]

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