That Hooray, went wah, wah, wah at the very end of last year when my terribly unqualified principal (who was just recently FIRED by the way) decided I needed to be in a grade that tested, so moved me to 3rd grade. Philosophically, it wasn't the right thing to do for numerous reasons, but it was done and now I'm back in a grade that tests, and I HATE THAT.
I hate that everything we do is about the test. We have to write this way because of the test. We have to read these passages because of the test. We have to teach these test taking skills. And I will tell you, the new "Common Core" tests are SO HARD that most 8 year olds don't have the wherewithal and the stamina to get through it and do well. They are not developmentally appropriate. And it's maddening. To make matters worse, the fact that the questions can't just be straight forward drives me mad. I get testing critical thinking when a student is in high school, but my kids are 8 and 9. If a question is so tricky that a group of 3rd grade teachers who teach the tested subject matter can't figure out the answer then it's not appropriate.
I hate that everything we do is about the test. We have to write this way because of the test. We have to read these passages because of the test. We have to teach these test taking skills. And I will tell you, the new "Common Core" tests are SO HARD that most 8 year olds don't have the wherewithal and the stamina to get through it and do well. They are not developmentally appropriate. And it's maddening. To make matters worse, the fact that the questions can't just be straight forward drives me mad. I get testing critical thinking when a student is in high school, but my kids are 8 and 9. If a question is so tricky that a group of 3rd grade teachers who teach the tested subject matter can't figure out the answer then it's not appropriate.
There was a question on our trimester 2 testing last week. The test was quite difficult, but if a student is able to read at grade level AND has the wherewithal to care enough to answer each question with care, he or she would do ok. But this question, or more specifically the answer choices, wasn't a good question. Take a look...
This is a three part question where students had to identify sound/spelling patterns. Based on the underlined part of the word in each sentence (mostly a complex vowel sound), students are asked to choose the word that has the same SOUND. That means that just because the part of the word has the same spelling doesn't mean it has the same sound. It's English after all! It's a common question in 2nd and 3rd grade to assess decoding skills, which in itself is lame because decoding skills are used for READING not answering test questions. But I digress. The issue with this question is the 3rd part. Try to answer that question using your phonics knowledge and see what you come up. After, feel free to consult a dictionary - it didn't help us any. I'll be back in a day or to with the answer.
Geez.... I feel kinda dumb. Even before reading on, I knew this was going to be the part of the question that was tricky. I THINK I know the answer, but could be wrong. I know it's a CA test, but couldn't the answers vary by which part of the country you're from, considering we all have different accents and don't always pronounce things the same?
ReplyDeleteAny chance you'll get to move back to Second Grade with a new principal?
Yes! Pronunciations by region ARE a factor. A good test writer won't include words that do that. It's maddening.
DeleteThere's always a chance I guess. It's hard because I LOVE my new team, but I HATE my classroom and testing. I like my old team and loved my old classroom. I'm feeling awkward about asking as I don't want to leave my current team, I don't want to screw with someone else's position if they are happy in 2nd now, so I've decided I will leave it up to the teaching gods and whatever will be will be.
Holy moly! That's crazy questioning. I'm teaching to the Advanced Placement test and it's not as complex as the question you posted.
ReplyDeleteIt is crazy! I don't understand the need to give questions like this. Assessment is supposed to show what they know, not to trick them.
DeleteThe nearest would be Tour, but I expect Motor is what's required but in truth all three are quite distorted. The oar and mower are in the same distortion but equally wrong to insist that kids form a connection. The AI in the first converts to Way where the Y is treated as Greek I. But who the holy in education would make that connection nowadays.
ReplyDeleteBut the exercise as a whole is about as useless as sawing sawdust. There are some they simply have to learn like 5x6=30. Or that a rook on a chess board moves to the limit in a straight line. What they are up too on this one is pushing abstract thinking so that in a few years when they are at Uni they won't be so tied in their thinking. However trying to get kids to relearn the abstract having spent the previous 3 years ding everything to get that out of them seems a touch redundant at very best, but more probably very damaging to the kids in the long run for it will simply confuse at a time when they are questing for stability and facts.
I agree, we're making a mess of things. It goes back to the people who make the decisions not having a clue. And for some reason those people think that the more we test the smarter they get, which is the opposite. In fact, as you said it's doing them harm. We're turning kids off to learning, heck I don't even like teaching it. It's boring and so prescriptive.
DeleteAll your comments about the answer are valid. I will post the answer this weekend when I have a minute to write.
I keep looking at the big picture. To me, we keep pushing all these new teaching methods and our country is slipping further and further down the scale compared to other countries in learning. At some point someone needs to perhaps try to go back to the way we were teaching when we were the top in the world. I suspect it was when we were teaching reading-writing-arithmetic and not parenting, dieting, morality, sex ed, etc.
ReplyDeleteOh yes! Teachers are blamed and expected to fix the social problems, which cuts out time for so much learning. And while I’m fine with teaching skills like that if required, it takes away from the time that I could be teaching the things they need to know on that test! It’s all so ridiculous. Every year we get a breakdown that you need to spend this amount of time on PE, and this amount of time on math, and this amount of time on all the other areas. If anyone bothered to add it up, they’d see there aren’t enough hours in our school day to teach all those required. It’s so stupid!!!
DeleteAnother thing we do is teach EVERYONE unlike many other countries who track kids and only test the ones capable of succeeding. But you are right, while comparing us constantly to other countries (and constantly saying we’re not making the grade) the powers that be then in turn make decisions that are completely contradictory to what those other countries do to be successful. Those countries rarely test (they’re too busy letting the kids learn), we test all the time, they don’t start academic learning until kids are older, we push the curriculum further and further down that we’re expecting kids to be further along than they're developmentally ready for, etc. Also, most of these “high performing” countries make educating kids top priority. As a country, teachers are held in high esteem. Their politicians don’t blame them for things like the housing market crash, or drugs or school shootings. They don’t marginalize teachers or call them selfish and greedy when they ask to be paid. They actually pay teachers as professionals who make salaries in line with doctors and lawyers.
I’ll get off my soapbox now. Again, it goes back to the people in charge not knowing anything about educating kids. They’re the ones dumbing us down!!
Wow! That was a breath of fresh air!
DeleteHa ha!
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