How do we know a student is learning? Usually evaluation is a nice way to determine if the students are learning materials. There are different ways to evaluate students and it is nice to use a variety of techniques when in the classroom. Sometimes a teacher must rethink teaching strategies when they discover that a portion of the class is having difficulty with a particular task/skill. In addition, evaluation offers a chance to pinpoint problem areas among individuals. As we are well aware by now, education is a building process and skills build upon one another. Thus, with proper evaluation, problem areas can be identified early and hopefully avoid any missing blocks in the building process.

Personally, in the school that I worked with I haven’t seen a way of communicating what happens in the classroom. I have seen some teachers on the web that use blogs to write about their classroom and others have their own web pages to keep things posted and parental interaction going. Furthermore, communicating is such a great way to share ideas and help others with problem areas. What better way to promote learning than working together as a team. I am so glad that I have taken these classes so I will be better prepared for my first year of teaching. I have learned so many great ideas and techniques that will improve the quality of my classroom by far.

First of all, portfolio’s have a good side and a bad side–it is all determined by the way they are used. Portfolio’s can serve as a great learning tool and a wonderful way to display educational growth throughout a given time frame. Nevertheless, in the classroom today there is such a focus on the portfolio and scoring a proficient or a distinguished that the educational value is taken away from the portfolio. I worked in a fourth grade classroom this past semester and I had the opportunity to work one on one with students concerning their portfolio. I was actually told by a teacher, “Don’t help so and so very much because they can’t really write past a novice, but so and so you can make them about a proficient.” Is this right!!! Should I just take the computer and write it for them and stamp their name on it. This is completely wrong! There was an entire week devoted to typing and revising portfolios–where important instructional time was lost. Then some of the disks became corrupted and revised materials were lost and the student hadn’t printed the revised copy and it was very chaotic. Therefore, the teacher had me retype the piece for them–because I “typed faster than the child did”–as it was before they revised it. To me, this is not teaching individualism but instead, it is promoting dependency.

On the other hand, the portfolio can be very beneficial if the actual work of the student is included and used to display educational growth. By revising over and over and having an adult sit right by the child and coach them sentence by sentence–”This needs to have more detail. What color was the house? What did you feel….?” To me, this approach is like taking the creativity out of writing. In the schools, the focus isn’t on the educational worth for the child. Instead, the focus is on how many novices, apprentices, proficients, and distinguished scores the school receives.

I believe it is crucial to allow a student to develop a character of writing on his/her own. We can provide them with the foundation, writing format, and correct grammar rules but as far as coaching them sentence-by-sentence–we can’t do that. Don’t get me wrong, writing a few suggestions on a paper and maybe have a conference or two is nice and the child can grow from these experiences but I believe it is important for the child to grow as a writer from practice. Eventually, they will develop their own style and voice–it will come natural. I had an art teacher once that told me, “You want to be a better artist?” Of course I thought he was going to hand me this awesome technique of what to do, but he replied with, “Practice and you will be a better artist.” The same goes with writing here. You want to be a better writer you need to practice.

I read Nate’s post on Cool Cat Teacher and I have been trying to focus on how I could use these tools to assess students. First of all, it would be pretty easy to determine the understanding of materials based on responses and posts submitted by students. Also, since this is a traditional classroom that is technology based, a teacher would know the students personally and be able to identify unhonesty–as in cheating–very easily. Furthermore, these tools help to reinforce materials that have been taught and I am sure the students are very engaged in participation. Personally, I love writing and I believe through writing one can find the inner person and really determine what thinking is going on inside one’s head. Moreover, these tools offer a nice chance to allow students to display performance assessment. There are a variety of tasks that can be given, using these tools, to determine proficiency of a given set of material and using an observation checklist–by doing this you know just exactly what you are looking for and can grade accordingly–to assess students very quickly. This takes a break from the standard given tests–we all know the students take enough standardized tests and it is important to find a variety of ways to assess students, and these tools could serve as a benefit in this area.

What if all of our computers dissappeared and we were back to pencil and paper? As I have been typing endlessly tonight and the smoke is rolling from my keyboard in hope of transferring everyone of my random thoughts onto the screen, I wondered what I would do if I didn’t have technology. Lord knows that I can type so much faster than I can write and if I write very fast, I can’t reread the material so it is useless anyway. What if I were having to transfer my thoughts the old fashion way–pencil and paper? It is a scary thought–how dependent we have become on technology?

I know we are on assessment this week, but I have to vent about a little situation that occured between my son and his teacher today. First of all, I can say that it is so difficult being a parent!! Anyway, I was at work today and I got a phone call from my son’s teacher. She said that he was “out of control and bouncing off the walls!” Well, I quickly began trying to figure out what the problem could be. I immediately asked her, “Is he excited about anything today?” And she replied with, “No, I just can’t do anything with him!”–Let’s keep in mind that my son turned 4 in July. So after she insisted that I talk with him, I asked her to put him on the phone. I talked with him a second and explained to him about respect and we get excited but we need to sit……..bla-bla.” So I thought everything was ok–but continued to be bothered by the fact that she had called me and voiced all of those problems about my son in front of the class. I am probably over reacting!

Anyway, a couple hours later–I get another phone call and it is the teacher again. So I am thinking, “Ok, she has thought about the sitation and called to applogize or something.” No, this time she said my son had hit her and tried to trip her. Well by this time I am just about irrate, but being in the education field–I am holding myself together and trying to see the two sides here. I asked her if there was anything that may have caused him to react in such a way and she said no, but I needed to talk to him. So when he got on the phone, he just started crying and kept repeating, “I don’t like school mommy–I just want to stay home.” At this point I proceed to explain how fun school is and that mommy is still going to school, etc. etc. I told him that we would talk about it at home and that he wasn’t in any trouble I just wanted to talk and try to figure out what is going on. So his teacher gets back on the phone and tells me thanks for talking to him–end of conversation. Once again, I am a little bothered that she would allow all of this to go on in front of the class–I may be over reacting, but I know self esteem plays a big part in young children’s lives.

I have talked to my son this evening and all he told me was that he was misbehaving and he had to put his chair in time out and stand at his desk. I have never heard this discipline approach before–I have heard of time out before, but I always have my son sit in the chair for an X amount of time. My son has never acted like this before–I am trying so desperately to sort this out in my head and figure out what the problem could be. I don’t know what advice to offer her and I am trying to keep a good attitude in this situation. I remember a conference that she and I had a few weeks back and I asked her how my son was behaving in school (it is part of a parent’s concern) and she said he was wonderful. She said that she tells the students that she will sit on them and squash them if they don’t mind (she is a rather large lady)–this has played on my mind now in effort to figure out this situation. Is this something you should tell three and four year olds? Is that professional? Maybe, there has been something said that has bothered him. I wish I could observe the class with a hidden camera and figure out what is going on. I feel like I am missing something here–and that is something that a parent doesn’t want. I don’t want to take him out of headstart because I am afraid that will send a message that it’s ok to just “QUIT.” That isn’t an alternative in my book–so that can’t be in this situation either. I hope this all sorts out. I am longing for an answer at this point!

I have often time wondered about the truthfulness in online assessments. I think sometimes distance ed. teachers tend to try to avoid untruthfullness by creating time limits on tests and some classes even have proctored exams where identification is checked. I believe the people that are going to cheat will do so whether it is online or in the traditional classroom setting. I know when I was in highschool there was this same group of students that got by with cheating in almost every class–then one day we entered a new class for the semester and everything was essay–they developed a new attitude toward tests. I remember being so angry because I would study beyond what we were given as the study guide and it would aggravate me so much that these particular people could just look up answers and get a good grade on the test without putting forth the extra effort to do so. Finally to justify with myself, I developed the attitude–it will all come back to them one day when they are trying to enter college and they can’t pass an entrance exam because they lost the building blocks along the way by cheating.

When a person cheats they only do themselves a disjustice. It is hurting no one else but them. How can you commit knowledge to long-term memory if you don’t process it–if you cheat, there is a minimal amount of processing going on. I am not saying you are not learning, but instead, there is a less chance that you will remember the material a year from now if you don’t continue to build upon it. However, if assessment is organized well, the problem with cheating will be gone. Ok, you’re probably thinking “Whatever.” It is true. Try mixing up the test. Don’t hand a step by step exact copy of what the test will look like and send it home to be memorized and fall into this same routine on all tests. This would open the door for an opportunity to write a quick list of answers (a,b,c,d) and take the “easy” way out. Maybe try some performance tasks as assessment tools, or observation checklists, short answer, and the list goes on and on. Nonetheless, I have heard students say they have written a cheat sheet for a short answer test and when they sat down to take the test, they didn’t even have to use the sheet. The question is, “Did the student really learn this material, or is it in short term recall and ready to be dispensed into the recyle bin when the test is over?” It is very difficult to make sure students are learning material and that the assessment tools are providing us with liable data to support the material retention.

Nevertheless, even in an online class there are ways to minimize the liklihood of cheating. Take this class for example. We are expected to reflect on materials that we are learning everyday. We have continued a building of knowledge from day one and we have became a stronger learning community. Nate is right in the fact that we all have an underlying voice within our reflections and our understanding of the material is reflected in our posts each week. We all don’t interpret things the same way, but that is all part of the diversity of learning. All in all, we have a final that is considered a performance type assessment. What better way to know if we really understand what we have “learned” this semester? This is a nice way to assess. I am sure that Nate will have an overall grade for us as far understanding the material and participating in the class this semester–but our final will be the way we compile all of the buidling blocks and demonstrate what we have processed thus far–it will be our way to show what we have learned. On the note of cheating–I don’t think anyone can match us perfectly–Nate has a record of our learning throughout this semester with our blogs, and it would be very easy to identify the issue of cheating in this class.

This is one question that I worry about for when I actually have my own classroom.  I want to teach a subject, and I want my students to understand and apply the concept to daily learning.  Moreover, I want to reinforce skills throughout the year to allow for an easy transition to long-term memory.  I want my students to be life long learners. 

It takes a lot to teach skills/concepts, but it takes the extra step to assess those skills/concepts to measure understanding.  Furthermore, it takes even more effort to ensure that all students are retaining the skills/concepts and there must be a lot of reinforcing throughout the semester to encourage a transfer of information into long term memory.  That is one of the ultimate goals of a teacher.  It is one thing to have students memorize some facts for a test and score a 100%–then ask them to repeat the test at the end of the year and they fail it.  The idea is to have a child perform a given task/skill and score above average and when repeated at the end of the year, the child meets the previous score or even scores higher. 

As teachers, we are responsible for providing the building blocks of education–as elementary teachers we provide the foundation to get kids through school.  We don’t want the foundation collapsing as the child is incorporating new building blocks.  Our goal is to provide a strong foundation to allow for a strong sturdy building.  If we accurately measure our students’ understanding of materials that we teach, and fix the problem areas–there is a good chance for that reliable foundation.  Throughout the elementary and high school years, skills tend to build upon one another from year to year.  Therefore, if this motto is practiced throughout each year the child progresses in school, then the child is connecting prior experiences to new learning experiences–they are participating in a life long learning experience–that is our goal.  

I just had an opportunity to explore Stephen Siemen’s blog on connectivism. I was really impressed with the variety of categories that he has on his blog—there is so much learning opportunities here. Also, I noticed his slogan at the top of the page, “Connectivism is a learning theory for the digital age.” After researching a little, I found some criteria for the theory of connectivism.

http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/connectivism.htm

I am still a little rusty on the entire theory of connectivism; however, in this article I discovered the principles of connectivism. According to Stephen there are 8 principles that support this theory.

Stephen Siemen’s Principles of Connectivism

• Learning and knowledge rests in diversity of opinions.
• Learning is a process of connecting specialized nodes or information sources.
• Learning may reside in non-human appliances.
• Capacity to know more is more critical than what is currently known
• Nurturing and maintaining connections is needed to facilitate continual learning.
• Ability to see connections between fields, ideas, and concepts is a core skill.
• Currency (accurate, up-to-date knowledge) is the intent of all connectivist learning activities.
• Decision-making is itself a learning process. Choosing what to learn and the meaning of incoming information is seen through the lens of a shifting reality. While there is a right answer now, it may be wrong tomorrow due to alterations in the information climate affecting the decision.

He also adds, “Connectivism also addresses the challenges that many corporations face in knowledge management activities. Knowledge that resides in a database needs to be connected with the right people in the right context in order to be classified as learning. Behaviorism, cognitivism, and constructivism do not attempt to address the challenges of organizational knowledge and transference.”

I can see Nate’s argument on the high emphasis that is placed on standardized tests. I remember throughout my methods courses there was a great emphasis on how to make learning “FUN.” We had to take lesson plans and twist and turn them so students would be engaged and it would be a fun game. Nevertheless, while I was completing my student teaching, I was trying each night to turn and twist the overscheduled teaching tasks for the week, into games and it was impossible. The demands were too high on what had to be covered each week to check off everything on a list at the end of the year. I often times wondered, “I can see why children don’t understand. You cover something one day and expect them to convert it to long term memory and on to something new the next day.” I also got to witness the preparation that is incorporated into preparing for the end of the year test. It is like a mad house of drill! The kids are so sick of tests by the time the actual test arrives; they really don’t care about performance. It is really a sad situation.

On the other hand, I read Jim Ellsworth’s comment on Nate’s post, and I can see the other side of the standardized tests as well. I often times comment on the Praxis test that is required for teachers. I know there is a writing portion of the test that is nothing but essay. I remember while I was waiting for the results of my exam, I kept hoping that I had a person that graded easily on the writing portion of the test. What was the criterion for scoring that portion of the test? Did the same person score hundreds of tests from all over the state of Kentucky to make it fair? Of course not—there were a party of people that scored that particular section of the test. How do I know that another person of the scoring party may have disliked my responses to the prompts and failed me? I have often times thought about this—is there a fair system in the form of standardized tests?

I guess the idea with a norm referenced test is to compare data and attempt to make the best possible learning environment possible—although I don’t always see the results of this. In addition, the multiple-choice part of the tests makes it easier to grade and each test taker has an equal opportunity at the answer (a, b, c, or d)—if all tests were essay would that make it fair? In the same way, if a child randomly guesses on the multiple-choice test and gets the answer right—can that measure the child’s understanding of the material? This is a very sensitive subject in the schools and there are two sides to the issue. I guess as an educator, it is our responsibility to make the best of the situation and to learn to be crafty and incorporate fun learning into the system even though it is on a rushed schedule to meet National Standard Guidelines.