I am a physical science teacher and can relate to the issue of teaching to the test. We have increasingly eliminated interesting aspects of science education, including hands-on activities, in an effort to sufficiently cover the standards so students can demonstrate knowledge on a 55-question EOCT. I could view this cynically and say that the main goal is to make the school and the district look good, but I choose to view it positively and say that at least the students have demonstrated some basic knowledge.
By focusing on the tested standards we have improved our performance tremendously, but at the cost of taking a lot of the "fun stuff" out of science. This semester I am giving up quite a few hours of instructional time to read books to my classes -- about 10-15 minutes a day. Though I hope not, I expect my scores to decline somewhat as a result, but am convinced that in the long run the students will be better off. I am already getting a good bit of positive feedback from the students, and when I finish my book I am going to take the classes to the library to check out a book. Then I will let them write a brief commentary on the books they have read and give them extra credit for it.
Sometimes you just gotta do what feels right, and this feels OK to me.
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3 comments:
Mr. Hiott, I appreciate your thoughts on the EOCT in respect that you do understand the importance of the students gaining knowledge of the curriculum but also recognizing and wanting to feed a students total interest in the learning process. I too hope that I can impose the necessary EOCT information BUT I want to expand the learning excitement and hope the student will leave thinking, "I learned alot of Math and want to continue learning all kinds of things."
Wayland all I can say is that I 100% agree with you that although we are crunched for time this does 'feel ok.'
I think the best service we can do for our students is to teach them to think for themselves - and I think this is a big way to do that.
Bravo, Wayland!
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