Saturday, December 19, 2015


In a world, where it seems everything is falling apart and people are getting crazier everyday, it is important that educators remember their roles in their children's lives. Often times people remember a special teacher all of their lives because of the impact that teacher has made. We have to be sure that we leave positive imprints. We have to remain motivated to be excited about teaching so our children can remain excited about learning.

Saturday, December 5, 2015

Test Me if You Can!



Assessments are fundamental when serving to educate children, or anyone for that matter. For the sake of this post I will focus solely on children. Assessments help us to determine if the goals of education are being met and if we are being effective in our methods of teaching.

As important as assessments are though, I do not believe that traditional, standardized tests should be the only method of determining a child’s placement within a learning setting. Nor should standardized testing be the determining factor in rather a child should progress to the next grade or not and in other cases rather they should graduate. A child’s performance and proficiency are also factors that should be considered.

In a 2002 interview, Grant Wiggins (pictured above), a nationally recognized assessment expert, stated that a test is simply a small portion of an assessment. Testing can be viewed as one piece of a portfolio, but it is important that we consider the whole picture. (Wiggins, 2002)

In an article, Testing, the Chinese Way, a mother refers to a time when her family lived in China. The mother explains that at ages 7 and 8, her children received “mad math quizzes” twice a week and regularly scheduled spelling quizzes. The Asian school curriculum placed an emphasis on discipline and testing, therefore testing for young children was considered normal. The mother recalls nearly constant tension between the Asian parents, who more tests and homework in addition to what was already being assigned, and the Western parents, more concerned with whether their kids (at such a young age) were having fun — and wanted less. (Rosenthal, 2010)

References:
Grant Wiggins: Defining Assessment. (2002). Retrieved December 5, 2015, from
http://www.edutopia.org/grant-wiggins-assessment#graph1
Rosenthal, E. (2010, September 11). Testing, the Chinese Way. Retrieved December 5, 2015, from
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/12/weekinreview/12rosenthal.html?_r=0