A GeekyMomma's Blog

You made some good points, Lee. Can also offer tw...

2012-06-17T09:47:06.715-04:00

You made some good points, Lee. Can also offer two? For Newbies, like Tammy, the Newbie Lounge will be near the Blogger's Cafe this year. Thanks to Beth Still, it's a great place to get your feet wet. Also, we should remember that we are an audience and, if we are not happy with a presentation, the best thing to do is just leave. Don't be snarky. Especially to me. LOL

Thanks so much for the tips...am attending ISTE fo...

2012-06-17T09:09:14.416-04:00

Thanks so much for the tips...am attending ISTE for the first time in addition to running a workshop and doing a poster session. Feeling a bit overwhelmed with trying to plan for those and to plan for what I would like to attend at the conference. I really appreciate your thoughts!

Thanks for the reminders and links, Lee. Wow DEN...

2012-06-16T17:50:41.187-04:00

Thanks for the reminders and links, Lee.

Wow DENnis. I can't imagine a workshop featuring you, Ken Shelton AND Burt Lo NOT being "sold out" ...
Enjoy ISTE. I'll be a virtual attendee this year!

Charlene

Great thoughts Lee (as always). Lack of pre...

2012-06-16T12:15:24.879-04:00

Great thoughts Lee (as always). Lack of pre-conference registrations for the Phantastic Photo workshop I was doing with Ken Shelton & Burt Lo has freed me from the burden of presenting this year, so I look forward to being inspired by some of the presenters you mentioned. Chris, I plan to be in the audience for your panel discussion too!
The bloggers cafe is a great place for learning and sharing, and a wonderful opportunity to match real faces with virtual friends. I've always found the crowd friendly and receptive. Look for me there, and also look for me flapping my wings and sharing a few things in the Social Butterfly lounge.
I would also encourage first time attendees to check out the poster sessions - especially the ones where students are showing off their own work. This is where you find your "proof of concept". Talking with a student who is passionate about sharing what they've learned can be more inspiring than a world renowned keynote speaker.

Hey Lee, thanks for the timely reminder. Some good...

2012-06-16T11:05:33.169-04:00

Hey Lee, thanks for the timely reminder. Some good advice for presenters.... I'm not presenting my own workshop this year, although I am fortunate enough to be sharing a panel discussion with several people, including Hall Davidson. Looking forward to that!

I hope we get to catch up in person this year at ISTE. After so many games of Draw Something, it would be nice to say hi in person!

See you there...

Chris

I'm happy that you are going to be a judge. I&...

2012-06-06T14:56:31.161-04:00

I'm happy that you are going to be a judge. I'm even happier that teachers are being recognized for their attributions in helping female students succeed in predominately male subjects

Hello! My name is Shaniqua Washington and I attend...

2012-05-31T19:19:09.140-04:00

Hello! My name is Shaniqua Washington and I attend the University of South Alabama. The course that I am currently enrolled in is EDM-310 with Dr. Strange. After reading your blog, I decided to try the test myself and I was surprised to see that my speed was 221 wpm in 50 seconds. It is really funny because I thought that my reading speed was pretty average, but the test says that I am 12% slower than the national level. Overall this test was fun to take and it is quite helpful. It encourages me to read more books on my own time since I can average at 2.9 books before recharging. Thanks for the blog. If you would like to contact me, I can be reached at Twitter @ShanWashington7 or on Blogger at http://washingtonshaniquaedm310.blogspot.com/.

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2012-05-31T16:20:42.534-04:00

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Thanks for sharing this, Lee. I want to have my 8t...

2012-05-30T16:00:48.798-04:00

Thanks for sharing this, Lee. I want to have my 8th graders try it. Although I think rate at which you read is overrated, I think this could help reluctant readers. Plus, it's kind of fun.

Hi Lee, Thank you for leading the way and demonst...

2012-05-09T06:51:59.052-04:00

Hi Lee,

Thank you for leading the way and demonstrating understanding and empathy. Your suggestion that Will step back into the classroom is a powerful one.

So taking your idea one step further...

I imagine that if all stakeholders, politicians, parents, administrators, bloggers, etc. would embrace the kind of integrity that you've exhibited by returning to the classroom as a teacher/administrator, the entire nature of the debate on education would be radically transformed.

How could this be done?

I believe that professional development that requires administrators to re-enter the classroom for a month would be a step in the right direction.

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2012-05-05T16:44:21.652-04:00

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There are only a few teachers who have made my lif...

2012-04-25T11:35:33.768-04:00

There are only a few teachers who have made my life as a student bearable. And it's unfortunate that number has never escalated even if my teachers are included in it.

Here here! We have just begun yet another round of...

2012-04-25T00:32:53.503-04:00

Here here! We have just begun yet another round of our testing this year and it's hard not to feel that is the only goal in life for these students. We have heard from all different angles the plethora of duties and expectations put upon teachers and yet if our students don't meet the "magic number" on their tests, we have failed. Hard not to get discouraged.

Rah! Rah! Rah! From the NY Daily News... "S...

2012-04-19T22:14:26.159-04:00

Rah! Rah! Rah!

From the NY Daily News...

"Students required to take 9 hours of English and math exams and state using dummy questions
Parents fume that kids treated like guinea pigs"

http://nydn.us/Jq0YNN

I can't help but wonder if http://t.co/UPog5Ox...

2012-04-19T22:10:28.808-04:00

I can't help but wonder if http://t.co/UPog5Oxq is the logical outcome of cheerleading for policies and practices that we largely agree are harmful to children and deskill teaching?

My children did not take standardized tests. It may have been a small gesture, but that AND letters to the editor AND leafletting outside of the high school indicated what our values were as parents, educators and citizens.

It also told our three children that we valued them over the Pearson stock price or the reelection of political demagogues.

If children cannot count on their teachers or parents to protect them from the madness, who can they trust? Who will defend them?

This is not only the season when teachers and children have their time and precious resources squandered by standardized testing, but it is also the time of year when headlines appear about educators abusing children. It's not hard to understand why; the battered become batterers themselves.

Oh yeah, if these tests are so damned useful, they must be valid, right? How can a test be valid if a pep rally influences results?

Imagine if a community got together and cheered "We love our kids more than we love standardized tests that tell us nothing about learning, sap our school of scarce resources and make children ill."

Lee, I just finished teaching my first undergrad ...

2012-04-19T17:31:15.664-04:00

Lee,

I just finished teaching my first undergrad course in the College of Ed at our University. There were some fabulous future teachers in my class and they were so enthusiastic about "doing things differently". I wonder if they know how lucky they are to be teaching in Saskatchewan instead of anywhere in the U.S. (where I'm originally from). What a great post.

@Terry I read and appreciate all of the comments l...

2012-04-19T09:25:22.390-04:00

@Terry
I read and appreciate all of the comments left by my readers.

Thank you (and everyone else) for your thought-provoking insight and for contributing to this conversation.

There's still much work left to be done in this realm.

Lee

As someone who moved from the high school classroo...

2012-04-19T09:09:11.984-04:00

As someone who moved from the high school classroom to the university classroom I have a perspective that is different. I unschooled all of my own children while teaching in the public system. Render unto ... and all that. Will is only guilty of the cognitive biases we all have,. I include myself in that set of biased individuals. The biggest problem is what James C. Scott’s fascinating and seminal book, Seeing Like a State, points out. It is the problem of forcing 'legibility' out of the 'illegible'. In other words we are guilty of an imposed simplification. Hence the adoration of hierarchy in educational reform. If you have time I recommend this introduction to the idea: http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2010/07/26/a-big-little-idea-called-legibility/

I know that it has caused me to re-view my standpoint on ed reform. I hope it gives both you and Will pause as well. Unless, of course, you do not read your comments ;-)

Here's what I don't understand. Everyone ...

2012-04-16T22:32:36.279-04:00

Here's what I don't understand. Everyone says, "testing is bad; it takes away from real learning." I agree with that, but do you think teachers have a choice? Can they just not focus on a test that will make or break not just individual students but the whole school? You might say they could teach in ways that aren't "to the test" but still cover the same material. A few here have suggested that they do. But sometimes that's not an option. It's not efficient. No one's stopping to figure out the best way to teach to these tests. Instead, we resort to memorization, drilling, etc. Short-term learning.

I get that that's bad. I think 99% of teachers get that that's bad, but really, what are they going to do?

And yes, the pep rallies are silly and a little cringe worthy, but I don't know, what's the immediate alternative? Long-term, yes, we hope that education isn't just about testing. But this is where we are.

There's one piece that always seems to be left...

2012-04-16T07:54:19.252-04:00

There's one piece that always seems to be left out of the rants: Reality. The tests are there. Good or bad, they're a hurdle that needs to be overcome. So while some people can lobby for getting rid of them, the rest of the education world needs to make the best of the situation. And if that means pep rally's to get the kids riled up to express their learning, more power to them!

Until somebody comes up with a better system of accountability that will scale across the entire nation and allow for quantitative comparisons, testing isn't going away. It may be supplemented, it may be augmented, but it isn't going anywhere. So the question becomes, how do we prove that good teaching is a more effective way of preparing students for real life AND doing well on the tests, instead of just teaching to the test? Prove that and you're well on your way to making concrete changes in the education system.

In a perfect world we would all understand each ot...

2012-04-16T06:36:27.933-04:00

In a perfect world we would all understand each other's perspective. I would love every adult to serve one year as a teacher, one year as a school cafeteria worker, one year as a school janitor and one year as a school administrator. I would love every non-parent teacher to serve as a parent for a year. However, it is not a perfect world and we all struggle with understanding what it is like to be in someone else's shoes so I will simply thank Lee for opening up some much needed dialogue.

We need ESEA reform so educators can get back to c...

2012-04-16T00:45:54.440-04:00

We need ESEA reform so educators can get back to creating rich learning environments. Right now, we are only creating "diet supplement" learning because of this statistically impossible law.

I think that, at the core, Lee and Will are in agr...

2012-04-16T00:16:40.492-04:00

I think that, at the core, Lee and Will are in agreement that there is a gross over-emphasis on results of standardized tests in our education system, and that these tests do not benefit our students. Will rightfully rues the fact that schools waste potential instruction time on "pep rallies," while Lee rightly notes the immense pressure on schools for students to do well on these exams, and that getting students in the right frame of mind is in fact an essential component of their success.

Ironically, Lee's post comes almost exactly one year after an incident that, for me, drove home, more than any other incident, just how far off the right path we've gone when it comes to standardized tests.

This week in 2011 (when Will's post appeared), Patricia Edminster, a 53yo Georgia schoolteacher, died of a heart attack during one of these pep rallies, in front of the students. The exams were deferred - for ONE DAY. The principal explained there was "no way" the students could have sat for the exam that day, so they sat for it the next day instead.

When students are chanting in an assembly, they...

2012-04-15T23:26:32.213-04:00

When students are chanting in an assembly, they're not learning skills or information. When they're sitting in a test situation hour after hour and day after day, students are not moving forward. When class time is given over to test prep strategies, students are cheated out of authentic learning experiences.

Consultants who preach test prep are just following the money and saying what someone will pay them to hear.

Sometimes we have to do things we don't quite believe in, but we don't have to invest ourselves in those activities, and we sure don't have to lie to students, parents, or administrators about what we think of the nonsense we're forced to do for the sake of misguided accountability measures.