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Showing posts from April, 2014

The Tragedy of Testing Errors

Last year there were major disruptions in testing that were well documented & despite that the contract was renewed with CTB McGraw-Hill.  No matter how you sugar coat it, this was a major screw up.  What I would like to share with you is how this impacts students. Last year, during this debacle I served our district as a technology coach.  On the days of online testing I worked to make sure our equipment was communicating the testing vendor.  Let me assure you, all was well from our end.  As students were working through the test several of them were asked to wait between every question.  Some were even asked to move to a different machine.  I witnessed one student in particular that was forced to restart her test more than seven times before she could successfully complete the assessment.  No matter how the testing environment is set up, it is a stressful time for those taking the tests.  Imagine being this student that was forced to re...

Legitimacy of Test Anxiety

Yesterday, as I prepared to walk out my office door to cheer my 3rd graders to success on the OCCT Reading Language Arts assessment I read the editorial in the Daily Oklahoman from the NewsOk.com website.  The article, Anxiety Over Third Grade Reading is a Red Herring , asserts that there is no such thing as test anxiety.  The only time there is anxiety, in the views of the author, is when the test taker is not prepared for the assessment.  Many times I have read about anecdotal evidence.  Anecdotal or not, it is a legitimate concern and not related to preparation and understanding the material. I witnessed a student yesterday that is probably one of the brightest students in his grade have a meltdown yesterday.  This student very likely will score advanced on the test.  He was prepared for the assessment.  He was in tears yesterday, frozen with just a few questions remaining. When a person reaches this point of stress it takes them quite a while to re...

10 Indicators You Are an Innovative Educator

The goal of most teachers is that their students would take responsibility for their own learning. How are students going to be able to do that if they never see it modeled? That is why it is important for each teacher to be the lead learner in the classroom.  The teacher should be the model of what it means to be a "lifelong learner."  If the teacher is working from laminated lesson plans there is a problem.  That doesn't mean that you have to start from scratch every year.  What it does mean is that the teacher must always be looking for ways to improve.  This constant drive to improve, grow and innovate is key to successful teaching.  This is what all innovative educators do. Would you consider yourself innovative?  Here are ten indicators that you are an innovative educator. After every less you ask, " What worked? What didn't work? Will I use this lesson again?  If so, can I make it better? If I am not going to use it again, why? " You are no...