Teaching Discussions

In my TE class today we had a huge discussion about assessments. There were so many good points and ideas brought up in class I felt the need to blog about it. First of all it was brought to my attention today that having assessments can sometime take away from the actual teaching and learning relationship. If teachers are forced to teach criteria for say the MEAP then that can take away from the students actually learning something. So much emphasis is put on "get a good grade" or "Pass that test" that the students can find the information to be meaningless. I think it is so important for teachers to continue to push to make learning interesting and fun even if it is a curriculum that is based on the MEAP or some other state standardized test.

Better Learning or Better Learners?

Better Learning or Better Learners?

I read this blog and was intrigued by the questions it's asking. I think it is really important to remember the learner and not just the learning process. I think there are some good points here about how the process of learning has become more important than the actual learner. If we could use different types of asessments to assess a learners strengths I feel they would benefit more.

The struggles of Teaching

After class today I had a million thoughts running through my head. I couldn't stop thinking about everything that goes into being a teacher and not just the planning, lesson plans, IEP's etc., but the political and social part of it too. There is so much going on right now in the U.S. in terms of education. Personally I don't think the entire public school system is awful, but there are some things that do need to change. As time changes new things come out and new versions of books or computers or programs, the fundamentals of teaching need to change along with those things. I also feel that the No Child Left Behind act needs to be changed. Not every student is the same and forcing students to take a standardized test is almost like saying that each student learns and test the same way. I do not think that standardized tests are a good way of testing the knowledge of students. I think hands on activities and projects along with tests can help to assess students knowledge.