While reading up on everything there is to know about Race To The Top (and you know there's a ton we don't know about RTTT), I feel there is something very important missing. I would call it the core problem with most major national legislation: actual input from real, in-the-classroom-right-this-moment teachers.
This is my first year dealing with serious, interrupting-my-teaching-on-a-regular-basis standardized testing. And by standardized testing, I mean online statewide FAIR testing, district reading benchmark tests, and math unit tests given on district-mandated dates regardless of whether my students have had time to master the curriculum. I've taught FCAT testing grades for the last 6 years, so I'm not new to the testing game. The problem is the data all these tests are accumulating is not an accurate measure of most of my students' abilities according to my personal observations.
I have one student, let's call him Science Boy, who loves reading non-fiction and comes up with super high-level questions regarding anything we are studying. For example, we play a great game about once a week where I put a long word on the board and the kids come up with words made from the letters all day. Any words five letters or longer get a point toward our class behavior goal, so there's an incentive to come up with great words. Science Boy lives for this game. Once he sees it on the board in the morning, he grabs a think pad and starts brainstorming during any free moment. He is a constant annoyance on these days ("Miss Lynn, how do you spell 'curious'?" "Will 'mentor' work?" After pointing him toward a dictionary several weeks in a row to answer his questions, he now saves me the trouble and gets one to start the day). He's got some ADHD issues and sits right next to me to help him focus, but he's very bright. According to FAIR data, however, he has a 10%-18% chance of passing FCAT. His weekly reading and periodic benchmark tests are above average, and his Accelerated Reader level is right where he needs to be for this time in 4th grade. He constantly needs to be reminded to slow down, which is where I suspect the problem lies in regards to his FAIR test scores. But according to the genius that is the FAIR report, I need to be small-grouping Science Boy to death.
Before all of this standardized-test-before-THE-standardized-test nonsense, I would not have worried much about Science Boy. I would have worked on his focus, encouraged him to read higher non-fiction books and some historical or math-related fiction, and then focused my extra energy on those students not performing as well. Honestly, that IS what I'm doing anyway. And thankfully my administration is encouraging us to use this new data only as another piece of the puzzle instead of the end-all, be-all of what students can accomplish. But I know there will come a point where I will have to prove I'm fixing Science Boy's "problems" instead of focusing on my real strugglers that FAIR, ironically enough, predicts will pass the FCAT with no problems. I'm also worried that new teachers will come to trust this data more than their own observations and opinions.
So I'm looking for the portion of RTTT that focuses on observations from classroom teachers. You know, those people actually trained to notice students' problems. I'll guess my chances of doing so are less than 10%.
31 January 2010
18 January 2010
tenth amendment, anyone?
I'm sure many of you have at least heard of Obama's new Race To the Top (RTTT) initiative to help the nation's public schools improve. It's been in state news a lot due to last week's deadline for districts (and teacher's unions) to sign on for a chance at some big $$$. Only five districts' unions signed on.
Why? Well mainly because RTTT is still an idea, not a completed framework. School boards would be required to scrap current (mostly working) programs for unknown but surely "research-based" ones that would require even more standardized testing (and I've already given six standards tests this year with three more coming up in the next three weeks). Here's the kicker: the money given to the states would not cover the costs of implimenting the new programs. "What?" you may be asking yourself. "How does that make sense?" Well, it doesn't. And since unions seem to have better memories than their school board counterparts, they are asking that very obvious question too and refusing to sign on. It's the simple "fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me" philosophy. Because we've done this before with the feds: NCLB anyone? Title I funding? All fed money comes with thick ropes attached.
But this is where it gets interesting. Florida's mostly Republican legislature has been really excited about RTTT and publicly browbeat the FEA for refusing to sign on without more information. It's been funny to watch such staunch conservatives grab for these Obama dollars. Why would they want Obama money anyhow? Think carefully (*cough* Florida Lottery money ringing any bells? *cough*) and I bet you can figure it out.
Well, someone finally called them on it. Florida's Tenth Amendment Center (yes, it is as conservative as you imagine) wrote an article condemning the lawmakers' "picking and choosing what it considers to be intrusive federal law based on monetary return." I've never been one to agree with crazy state sovereignty supporters, but come on. When even Texas refuses to sign on, you know something is wrong.
Why? Well mainly because RTTT is still an idea, not a completed framework. School boards would be required to scrap current (mostly working) programs for unknown but surely "research-based" ones that would require even more standardized testing (and I've already given six standards tests this year with three more coming up in the next three weeks). Here's the kicker: the money given to the states would not cover the costs of implimenting the new programs. "What?" you may be asking yourself. "How does that make sense?" Well, it doesn't. And since unions seem to have better memories than their school board counterparts, they are asking that very obvious question too and refusing to sign on. It's the simple "fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me" philosophy. Because we've done this before with the feds: NCLB anyone? Title I funding? All fed money comes with thick ropes attached.
But this is where it gets interesting. Florida's mostly Republican legislature has been really excited about RTTT and publicly browbeat the FEA for refusing to sign on without more information. It's been funny to watch such staunch conservatives grab for these Obama dollars. Why would they want Obama money anyhow? Think carefully (*cough* Florida Lottery money ringing any bells? *cough*) and I bet you can figure it out.
Well, someone finally called them on it. Florida's Tenth Amendment Center (yes, it is as conservative as you imagine) wrote an article condemning the lawmakers' "picking and choosing what it considers to be intrusive federal law based on monetary return." I've never been one to agree with crazy state sovereignty supporters, but come on. When even Texas refuses to sign on, you know something is wrong.
31 August 2009
a tree grows for h
A brave friend of mine encouraged me to write a bit more about what I've been thinking lately. Many of you know I lost a student in a head-on collision in the spring (which is mainly why I stopped blogging so much -- I had to internalize her death and who can really understand the death of a nine year old?) I grieved with my class, went to the viewing but not the funeral (note: never go to the open-casket viewing of a child), and tried to move on. She was always in the back burner of my mind, which is where I put things when I can't figure them out right away.
The last week of school we planted a tree in her honor -- a magnolia. It was special to her family, and all of them came. Her wonderful mother, her aunt and grandmother, her sister paralyzed from the waist down in the crash that took H's life, her father, and her step-mother -- the one who was driving the car. I felt so especially sorry for her since how can you get over the could have, would have, should have scenarios that must pass through your mind every day after an event so horrific? At least I felt sorry for her until last week, when I found out this woman was high on cocaine, pot, and alcohol at the time of the accident. I just couldn't believe it -- or seem to get over it. How do you do that to a child, much less your children? The thought keeps me awake at night, especially as Tim and I contemplate starting our own family.
I was pulling sweaters out of a drawer tonight trying to find something to wear for school tomorrow. I touched a sleeveless lavender shell, and as I pulled it out I remembered wearing it to H's wake. Every day when I leave school I see the tree we planted for H. I think about her and her wonderful mother. I can't imagine the idea of losing your child so horrifically and on top of that knowing someone you trusted to watch her was in fact responsible for her death. How do you move on after that?
I lost my grandmother three weeks ago. I watched my mother lose her mother, and it was so difficult. Grandmother was 98 years old and lived a full and prosperous life. But it was still sad and heart breaking to watch my mother grieve. The bond between mother and child is so very strong -- I couldn't help but think of H's mother and their bond. How does one move on after such a tragedy? I'm not sure her death will ever move off my mind's back burner because I'm not sure I will ever fully understand.
The last week of school we planted a tree in her honor -- a magnolia. It was special to her family, and all of them came. Her wonderful mother, her aunt and grandmother, her sister paralyzed from the waist down in the crash that took H's life, her father, and her step-mother -- the one who was driving the car. I felt so especially sorry for her since how can you get over the could have, would have, should have scenarios that must pass through your mind every day after an event so horrific? At least I felt sorry for her until last week, when I found out this woman was high on cocaine, pot, and alcohol at the time of the accident. I just couldn't believe it -- or seem to get over it. How do you do that to a child, much less your children? The thought keeps me awake at night, especially as Tim and I contemplate starting our own family.
I was pulling sweaters out of a drawer tonight trying to find something to wear for school tomorrow. I touched a sleeveless lavender shell, and as I pulled it out I remembered wearing it to H's wake. Every day when I leave school I see the tree we planted for H. I think about her and her wonderful mother. I can't imagine the idea of losing your child so horrifically and on top of that knowing someone you trusted to watch her was in fact responsible for her death. How do you move on after that?
I lost my grandmother three weeks ago. I watched my mother lose her mother, and it was so difficult. Grandmother was 98 years old and lived a full and prosperous life. But it was still sad and heart breaking to watch my mother grieve. The bond between mother and child is so very strong -- I couldn't help but think of H's mother and their bond. How does one move on after such a tragedy? I'm not sure her death will ever move off my mind's back burner because I'm not sure I will ever fully understand.
12 July 2009
woo hoo!
Because a teacher at my school is leaving, I got a Smartboard! It's big and bulky, and I have no idea where I am going to put it. But it's mine and I am so excited to finally be able to have interactive web access in my class. I don't know if I'll use it as much for lessons to begin with. But there are SO many websites I've wanted to show my class. I emailed my intern who was just as excited. Neither of us have a lot of experience using one, but lessons are made in a program very similar to Power Point so it can't be too difficult.
*sigh* Now for the sad news. This is my (unfinished) classroom with tile. Yuck. It is white with a blue trim. It has lots of bubbles in the sealer and many unclean-able scratches already. Tim helped me felt the feet of the tables and other major furniture, so I hope the scratches don't get worse and the furniture stops sticking to the floor. We'll see...
08 July 2009
june, july, & august
Those are the reason teachers teach, right? Well, here's a sampling of how I spent June, all at home since my classroom floor is being tiled:
These are the binders I've reorganized so I can find math and reading ideas and assignments by topic. When I taught third grade, I just had them grouped by how we taught them. After moving grades again (now I've done 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th) I decided to group them by topic so regardless of what grade I'm teaching (or how many times they adopt new textbooks) I have what I need in a simple to find format. It seems straightforward, but I also had to go through page by page and determine whether the idea/assignment was useful or crappy. I recycled an entire box of papers and this is what I was left with. Of course, every page in these binders is in a protective plastic sleeve with topics divided by cardstock.
Then I created a master list to go inside the front cover of each binder that shows how they are grouped for easy retrieval (not to mention when I need to add to them.) Not bad for two days' work. I completed my spelling, writing, and poetry binders at school before packing up. They will get master lists once I finish unpacking my room next week. My science and Florida units are the BIG job waiting to be dealt with. I am dreading the weeks those will take. Thankfully one of my teammates is joining me in this challenge.
Next up was typing up, printing, cutting, gluing, and laminating all the words for my Word Wall. I love the Nifty Thrifty Fifty words from the 4-Blocks Literacy Model, which I used extensively when I taught primary grades. They focus on root words and affixes, which my kids need a lot of practice with for automaticity. Normally these words come printed in poster form for me to laminate and cut out easily, but I couldn't find them anywhere online. Last year I used markers to write the words on sentence strips, but the markers quickly faded thanks to the bright Florida sunshine. So this is my solution. Fifty words are not enough to get us through the year, so I also added frequently misspelled/misused homophones to the mix for a total of about 80 words. On the back of each I hand wrote the root word, any affix and its meaning, each word's part of speech and the tense or category it falls under (hello, grammar practice!)
I finished hand writing all of my Daily Geography questions onto index cards (96!) for Morning Work and am halfway through Daily Science's 90 cards. These cards get laminated and then placed on different tables once a week for students to answer on small slips of paper. We go over them as a class when we have 5 minutes or so. I teach science for several weeks and then switch back to social studies, so whichever subject I'm currently teaching we use the other subject's daily questions. It's a nice way to keep both social studies and science part of the daily routine. I used to just photocopy the questions, but I am trying to focus on less paper use -- laminated cards last for years and can be reused! My 2nd and 3rd grade sets kept up well, so I figured I ought to bite the bullet and get them done.
But, as you can tell, I'm not done yet! I still have an idioms game to make and vocabulary and language games to glue onto cardstock, laminate, and cut out for reading centers. In an upcoming post I'll share some of the great online resources I've been scouring this summer as well. I do love June, July, and August. Hopefully, if I organize and prepare decently this summer, I'll be able to spread some of that relaxation through the rest of the year.
These are the binders I've reorganized so I can find math and reading ideas and assignments by topic. When I taught third grade, I just had them grouped by how we taught them. After moving grades again (now I've done 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th) I decided to group them by topic so regardless of what grade I'm teaching (or how many times they adopt new textbooks) I have what I need in a simple to find format. It seems straightforward, but I also had to go through page by page and determine whether the idea/assignment was useful or crappy. I recycled an entire box of papers and this is what I was left with. Of course, every page in these binders is in a protective plastic sleeve with topics divided by cardstock.
Then I created a master list to go inside the front cover of each binder that shows how they are grouped for easy retrieval (not to mention when I need to add to them.) Not bad for two days' work. I completed my spelling, writing, and poetry binders at school before packing up. They will get master lists once I finish unpacking my room next week. My science and Florida units are the BIG job waiting to be dealt with. I am dreading the weeks those will take. Thankfully one of my teammates is joining me in this challenge.
Next up was typing up, printing, cutting, gluing, and laminating all the words for my Word Wall. I love the Nifty Thrifty Fifty words from the 4-Blocks Literacy Model, which I used extensively when I taught primary grades. They focus on root words and affixes, which my kids need a lot of practice with for automaticity. Normally these words come printed in poster form for me to laminate and cut out easily, but I couldn't find them anywhere online. Last year I used markers to write the words on sentence strips, but the markers quickly faded thanks to the bright Florida sunshine. So this is my solution. Fifty words are not enough to get us through the year, so I also added frequently misspelled/misused homophones to the mix for a total of about 80 words. On the back of each I hand wrote the root word, any affix and its meaning, each word's part of speech and the tense or category it falls under (hello, grammar practice!)
I finished hand writing all of my Daily Geography questions onto index cards (96!) for Morning Work and am halfway through Daily Science's 90 cards. These cards get laminated and then placed on different tables once a week for students to answer on small slips of paper. We go over them as a class when we have 5 minutes or so. I teach science for several weeks and then switch back to social studies, so whichever subject I'm currently teaching we use the other subject's daily questions. It's a nice way to keep both social studies and science part of the daily routine. I used to just photocopy the questions, but I am trying to focus on less paper use -- laminated cards last for years and can be reused! My 2nd and 3rd grade sets kept up well, so I figured I ought to bite the bullet and get them done.
But, as you can tell, I'm not done yet! I still have an idioms game to make and vocabulary and language games to glue onto cardstock, laminate, and cut out for reading centers. In an upcoming post I'll share some of the great online resources I've been scouring this summer as well. I do love June, July, and August. Hopefully, if I organize and prepare decently this summer, I'll be able to spread some of that relaxation through the rest of the year.
07 July 2009
garden spoils
This is all from the garden (well, the red onions were from the blueberry farmer.) There were 50 ripe tomatoes the last time we harvested, and more on the vines ready to go. We made 2 types of salsa for the party last week and are planning pizza sauce for tonight. I am also kicking around the idea of tomato jam. Tim says it sounds unappetizing, but I think it could be yummy -- for use on bruschetta maybe? We've already done the annual blueberry jam canning, but I'd love another excuse to pull out the canner. Maybe we'll put up some fresh tomato sauce too.
sew it's my birthday
I bought this amazing fabric on a trip to San Francisco in the summer of 2003 from the famed four-story Britex Fabric Store in the middle of Union Square. I only got 3 yards (and kicked myself a thousand times over for not getting more) so I knew that I had to be sure how I was going to use it. I loved this fabric so much that I based my house's main color scheme around it.
When Tim saw it as we were rummaging through the fabric piles, he was insistent that we finally make the pillows I'd been vacillating over for years. We decided to use the pattern for the front only and use black canvas for the backs -- that way we could make more pillows. We ended up with enough fabric for 4 16-inch pillows, 2 large floor-sized pillows, and a new dog bed cover for Madeleine (which she obviously loves.)
We worked in the craft room for a few hours on my birthday trying to get several pillows done in time for our party last Friday. I got through the dog bed and three smaller pillows. The rest will have to wait for craft day this week. I swear the next project in the living room had better involve replacing that couch!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
