In reaction to: Beyond the Bubble Tests: The Next Generation of Assessments -- Secretary Arne Duncan's Remarks to State Leaders at Achieve's American Diploma Project Leadership Team Meeting
The article, Beyond the Bubble Tests: The Next Generation of Assessments -- Secretary Arne Duncan's Remarks to State Leaders at Achieve's American Diploma Project Leadership Team Meeting, relates well to our last class discussion, greatly in part to the issues of standardized testing. Many students cannot be accurately tested with norm referenced tests for many reasons. For one, many students get nervous when taking a standardized test, also, the tests are very “black and white” and do not have much dimension or show other higher-order thinking skills that students may possess. These types of assessments serve their purpose mostly for accountability, to prove that it was taught by the teacher, but just as students cannot be accurately assessed with these types of tests, neither can teachers. These types of tests don’t “prove” what other skills or concepts the teacher might have taught.
I think the new “2.0 Assessments” will be a major positive step for Business Education. Recently, funding has been taken away from Business Education programs in schools because they are relying so heavily on what is being tested in the state assessments. The idea of a more well-rounded curriculum that supports not just Math and Reading, but other subject areas as well, is a huge step in the right direction for Business Education. It was even noted in the article that, “The administration has proposed to spend more than a billion dollars to support a well-rounded education in high-need schools—including $265 million in grants to strengthen teaching and learning in the arts, foreign languages, history, civics, and financial literacy.” I was so happy to see the words "financial literacy". This proves that the education administration believes business ed. courses are just as important as the core subjects! I think this will bring more awareness to business education and hopefully shed light on the importance of personal finance and other courses. In the 21st century, students cannot afford to go without these classes, no matter what their future plans are.
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
The First Days of School..
One of the most useful and influential courses I took at Bloomsburg was Classroom Management & Effective Discipline with Dr. Gates. In this class we learned about how important the first days of school are for a teacher. He often referenced Harry Wong's book, The First Days of School, who said that the first day is the actually the most important day of the school year. Harry Wong believed that what you do on the first days of school will determine your success or failure for the rest of the school year.
Did you know that the single most important factor that governs student learning is classroom management? An article from Educational Leadership found 28 factors that influence student learning, and classroom management was #1. That is why the first days are so important. If expectations are not set in the first week, students will not change months from now when the teacher realizes that something isn't working- perhaps the students aren't learning and the teacher has no control of their classroom.
Harry Wong, author of The First Days of School, believes what is most important and needs to be established on the first days of school is: Consistency. Students want to know exactly what they will be getting and what will be happening. This prevents the never-ending, "What are we doing today?" questions. Teachers need to spend time organizing and structuring the classroom so the students know what their role is in the classroom. Teachers also need to teach procedures that create consistency. They should then go over those procedures many times in the first weeks so the students understand.
Some tips that I found helpful from the First Days of School book are specifically for Day 1:
Did you know that the single most important factor that governs student learning is classroom management? An article from Educational Leadership found 28 factors that influence student learning, and classroom management was #1. That is why the first days are so important. If expectations are not set in the first week, students will not change months from now when the teacher realizes that something isn't working- perhaps the students aren't learning and the teacher has no control of their classroom.
Harry Wong, author of The First Days of School, believes what is most important and needs to be established on the first days of school is: Consistency. Students want to know exactly what they will be getting and what will be happening. This prevents the never-ending, "What are we doing today?" questions. Teachers need to spend time organizing and structuring the classroom so the students know what their role is in the classroom. Teachers also need to teach procedures that create consistency. They should then go over those procedures many times in the first weeks so the students understand.
Some tips that I found helpful from the First Days of School book are specifically for Day 1:
- Stand at the classroom door and greet students with a smile.
- Have your room ready, with all materials, and seating chart. (Ex: Have names on place cards at their desks.)
- Have the first assignment ready. The assignment should be short, interesting, and easy to complete. Bell-ringers or ice-breakers are great assignments for the first day.
Ice-breakers & Bell-Ringers
- I found some great first-day activities, (geared more toward the elementary classroom, but could be useful for any age group) including ice-breakers, in the link below: http://www.cbv.ns.ca/sstudies/activities/1rstday/1rst.html
- More useful activities for first day are in the link below: http://www.proteacher.com/030005.shtml
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