Author: Sweat to Inspire

Educator and Parent

Ruffled Feathers

Posted on by Sweat to Inspire

Its that time of year. The school year is ending and teachers prepare for the educational off season. Time to reflect on the year of teaching, take a break to refresh and plan for the year to come. For some the end of the school year goes smoothly, but for others feathers are ruffled. As districts are coping with declining enrollments and tight budgets, more and more teachers are faced new teaching assignment for the upcoming year. Many are changing grades, buildings, faced with reduced teaching roles or even lay-offs. The off season for these teachers is filled with transitioning to a new role.

For some this transition is smooth, like Miguel Cabrera moving from third base to first, but for others the change can be more like switching Miguel to the NBA. Teachers spend money and time preparing to do their best in the classroom. Purchasing books, supplies and attending training to make sure students succeed. If their position changes many times the purchases and training will not be utilized in their new position. Frustrations ensues.

Displaced teachers feel disrespected as professionals, having no voice or choice in the changes being made. Districts need to take a collaborative approach when making scheduling and staffing changes. Teachers often see avenues towards solutions that administration can’t see from their offices. With the investments districts have in training staff, it is wasteful to move these resources into positions that they are not best utilized.

How can districts work with their teachers to make sure staff are ALL placed in positions for optimal student learning? Education need to be a place where teachers feathers aren’t ruffled in this way. The off season should be about fine tuning skills not learning a completely new position. It is hard enough with changing standards and student populations.

What’s the story with the data?

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student data

As I proctor my students taking the NWEA Science MAP test, I notice blank stares at the screens. Students are slowly absorbing the random test questions. Trying to put the words into a context, thinking back through classroom experiences. Attempting to find the correct answer. We have been studying severe weather events in class. Now the students are being bombarded by questions from physics to biology to geology. Some of the questions hit directly on units covered in our classroom, others were studied in previous years and some of the material has not been taught to my students yet (In curriculum for 8th Grade). I wonder: Will the results show that students grew their science knowledge? Are my teaching methods preparing my students for this type of assessment? Is this assessment meaningful for my students?

As the results come in I find that 72% of my students hit their NWEA Projected Growth Targets. Well that doesn’t seem bad. 7 out of 10 students in my class would hit the expected growth. But did my instruction garner these results? and Why do I feel the 72% should be higher? These are the hard questions to answer. I feel that many of the questions I observe from over the shoulder of a student taking a test are disconnected from my teaching. From the random sample observed, I did notice a few questions that go directly with our instruction. Many of the questions were totally disconnected from any of the units taught this year in seventh grade. If my students correctly answered these questions the credit should go to them, not my teaching since it was never covered in my class. 72% seems low because it is a C on most grading scales, I feel I am better than a C teacher. How can any test measure the effectiveness of teaching when it is not directly connected to the content taught in class? MAP does seem to measure a student’s ability in a subject matter and their growth over time. This could be tied to teaching but mainly is students learning ability.

I teach the way I have been trained. I teach units. Ideas are introduced with global experiences. Lessons are organized so students can learn related ideas together. This method allows students to make connections in their learning. Ideas seem to flow together naturally. Light and sound are taught together in a unit on wave energy. Cells are studied at the same time as genetics and plants. Students like the flow and can dive deeply into content with the connections. Standardized tests seem to forget this concept. Questions jump all over the place. The questions have no context or connections for the students to anchor their understanding. Simple reason why Jay Leno’s segments of “Jay Walking” are so funny and popular.

Should I change my teaching to be more random? It might help students think before jumping at the first thought that enters their mind.

My students hate the MAP test. They feel it is a waste of time. Many commented about how they had no clue on how to answer certain questions. Some felt frustrated during the test and gave up on trying when they encountered questions that had content that was never taught to them. Are these test necessary? Aren’t there better ways to show students are learning?

When we really look at the data what story does it tell?

Through the Hourglass

Posted on by Sweat to Inspire

Close view of sand flowing through an hourglass. 3D render with HDRI lighting and raytraced textures.

At my son’s last Boy Scout Troop meeting, an analogy for schools surfaced. Griffin being new to the troop, I just took an seat in the back of the room taking time to search my twitter feed for articles to read. After reading a few tweets I notice a lady approaching me. She asks about Griffin, takes an order for the summer camp T-shirts and then asks about my occupation. When I stated that I was a teacher, a conversation began.

I shared how hard it was for some students to find their way in school. The curriculum is not engaging for them no matter how hard I try. Many students have made career decisions already, some wanting to be hair dressers, truck drivers, work in skilled trades or in customer service. I stated the need for broader educational standards so these students’ life needs would be addressed. “Where were they going to learn about interest, credit and insurance?” She listen to me attentively, then calmly offered an analogy: “Schools are like an hourglass, pulling our focus in for the few years we attend!’

How true! We come into the world all spread out, full of wonder. As we enter school our focus is pulled towards reading, writing, math and organized learning. For the brief span of time we are focused, sharing an experience with our peer group. When our organized learning is complete, we fall to our own will. Once through the narrows of the hourglass we guide our education to where we want to be. Some of us struggle to remain on top, others elect to be buried at the bottom, most of us lie in between. We all travel through the hourglass that is education.

Lost in standardized tests

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Having just completed the Michigan Student Test of Educational Progress (MSTEP) with my 7th grade students, I am finding we are lost in standardized tests. After years of media reports that the American Educational system is in need of life support. Our government in a need to justify funding for education has decided to find an easy measure to “see” the effectiveness of the educational system.  States have been encouraged with “Race to the Top” financial incentives to measure teaching by examining student standardized test scores. This entire process has made our educational system all about “THE TEST” and not about learning or the STUDENTS.

American students are anything but standardized. Coming from a wide variety of ethnic and economic background. Some students arrive in kindergarten reading books others arrive without being able to recognize a letter. In our current system the expectation is that ALL students will be meeting the same standard by the end of the year. Is this system fair for all students? Once a student is behind, without major supports they will be behind for their entire educational career.

From my vantage point our testing culture is KILLING students passion for learning. This year Griffin, my 11 year old son, came home from school for the first time saying “I can’t wait to be done with school!” He loves learning, but this passion is being driven out in school. When I asked why? He responded, “This dang test sucks, too long, with no feedback as to if I am going in the right direction.” I was taken aback.

As I pondered his comment, I realized how right he was. MSTEP was sucking the learning out of students. During “regular” school assessments students are connected to the current content by instruction. Standardized tests are just random questions with no logic of order. Students are allow to ask the teacher questions and get feedback on the direction they are heading on classroom assessments getting clarification on misconceptions. Standardized assessments teachers have to stick to a script and ONLY re-read the directions. Classroom assessments are corrected in a timely manner, often the day of the test so students know their outcomes immediately. Standardized tests like the MSTEP, have delayed results that often are confusing to students so no corrective actions can be taken.

Do standardized test results equal success? I wonder, what is the correlation of SAT, ACT or MEAP score to career success? Didn’t the Unabomber, Ted Kaczynski, score highly on the SAT? Should states be putting SO much weight on these snapshots?

I wish politicians would listen and trust the educational experts, teachers, and stop this standardized madness.

Numbers

Posted on by Sweat to Inspire

Numbers

NUMBERS 

They are everywhere

Surrounding our life, filling it with strife

Starting at birth

7 lbs 11 oz, 21 inches 10:42 am

Weight, height and time

every wellness visit

and volume consumed

Numbers are there

5 marks the start of school

IQ and lexile tell if your a fool

As we grow the numbers mount

Strive to improve but

Don’t let them define you

Numbers only describe

a moment in time and effort

Our Standardized Journey

Posted on by Sweat to Inspire

standardized-testing-comic3

Week two of MSTEP (Michigan’s standardized test) is now in the books, only two more days of checking if our students are up to standard left. Of course we already know they are anything but “standard”. This process is taking a toll on our students having spent over 6 hours this week staring at questions on a computer monitor. What can we take away from this process?

The Good:

  • The test is aligned to the common core state standards: I feel these standards are moving our students in the right direction with learning.
  • MSTEP moves us away from multiple choice ONLY tests. While monitoring test taking, I have noticed numerous open response questions for students to show their knowledge and work. No longer are they ALWAYS offered a chance at getting credit by guessing the best answer.
  • The test is more literacy focused. I notice on all test reading is a key for success. Whether it is reading the directions, a passage,  a diagram or a chart, students need to show their literacy skills. Even the math portion contained a multitude of literacy based questions.

The Bad:

  • Its long! Try getting anyone to sit for two plus hours to take a test, let alone my seventh graders. After 10 minutes, shifting occurs. Many students have a hard time maintaining focus or put forth their best effort after being worn down by a couple of days of testing. (18 hours total over 3 weeks of time.)
  • Its random. The questions order seems to have no rhyme or reason in math and science bouncing from physics to biology or Geometry to fractions. Most school testing groups all similar questions together so students can build up stamina for the task. MSTEP seems to have missed it, jumping all over their learning experience in a very random order.
  • Online is challenging for our students. This is a relatively new medium for them to be taking a test on. Sure computers are great but students need time to get comfortable to taking a test on them. For many students it is the first time using all the tools and reading online for the extended period of time. Testing online is a novelty for our students right now.

The Ugly:

  • The loss of instructional time. We are losing over 18 hours of time that is meant to be for instruction to taking the MSTEP test. This is a bit excessive, especially since districts like ours also have NWEA MAP testing coming up in the coming weeks. Why do we need both tests?
  • Student Burn out. After a two hour testing session, what student wants to go back into the classroom and start working on the next unit? Do homework? Our students want to get outside and let off steam. Be a child!
  • Early Finishers: Not all students work at the same speed. I have some students done in one hour, others need more than two. How do we deal with this? Students are expected to sit quietly until ALL are done. Any teacher knows this is impossible for a class of 30 plus students. It would be nice to have a place to send students, but that would serve as a false incentive for students to “be done”.
  • The Done Syndrome. Our students are feeling like it is finals week. After all this testing is done, will they want to achieve in the classroom or are they ready for summer break? Our school is not out until June 17. Our staff is working valiantly to make sure we have engaging lessons till then so students won’t check out.

I hope the Lansing is watching and listening to teachers and students feedback about testing. The bad and ugly are out weighing the good right now. We need to make adjustments to make this process work for ALL students.