Learning For the Rest of Your Life

"Your not writing to answer this test question, your writing to learn for the rest of your life!" (Wolf)  Many teachers these days are caught in the hype of getting through every inch of curriculum, perfecting every lesson plan, getting the highest scores on the state test and pleasing the district to make sure from losing your job.  But while we are getting caught up with all of this, it becomes apparent and very evident that we have given up on the idea of teaching our students ideas because of the knowledge that they need to know, not the facts that they need to know in order to pass a state test.  The buzz words of the last few years have been commonly known as "teaching to the test," in which teachers are so concerned about their students scoring in a certain percentile, that they forget to think, are my students even really learning this?  If you look at the test today, you may even wonder the importance of your students passing a certain portion of a test that seems irrelevant to the knowledge to help them succeed. This is where many teachers get caught up in the notion of making sure their pile of students passes a certain number to get a certain percentage so that a certain someone up in the ranks can tell them that they all passed and can move on.  But what does this even really mean?  Its easy to label a student based on a test score in reading and math, but does that label really describe who that person is as a student?  This is why I find it extremely important for teachers to teach TRUE to the test, as discussed throughout Wolf's article.  It provides a blend of authentic teachers and important theories to teach by when it comes to standardized testing in writing.  This stays true to my philosophies as an educator and as a long life learner, in which every student is capable of learning and their are many, many different ways of providing that learning to a student.

If we are looking at the standardized testing portion of writing, we can see that it isn't such a concrete area to grade.  While there is no multiple choice or one right answer, it provides more of an opportunity for students to creatively express who they are and their own voice.  But some way, some how the states are able to place a student in a certain percentile of achieving or failing based on a strict rubric that calls for no creativity or voice.  While teachers are under a lot of pressure to create high achieving students, even the most creative and innovative teacher can be strung up in making sure there students are prepared for the test by providing similar rubrics from the tests and having them practice.  While this seems almost like some form of cheating, it seems to be the only way that students can pass or provide good scores.  But is this the only way?  As discussed throughout Wolf's article, there are many other ways to involve the standardized tests throughout your curriculum, without basically putting the test right in front of their face.  The examples provided by veteran teachers provides practice, standardized curriculum, and all the other components that many teachers use for standardized test taking, but in a creative and innovative way that allows students to go beyond a rubric.  I believe using these ideas across our entire curriculum, not just for writing, will provide with not only a positive test score but actual LEARNING.  Because thats what teachers are paid for, right?  Whether it be using social studies to write in an essay format about the pilgrims or computing a story problem in math, there are many different ways that teachers can "teach" to the test, that provide satisfactory results.

In looking at the different ways that we see teachers within the classroom today, it is important for you to stay true to your beliefs and what you feel is best for your students.  As discussed throughout previous blog posts, your student's needs are what is most important for you as a teacher, not some test score that you receive two times a year from a computer robot.  It becomes a question of not only how can you increase your test score results, but how can you actual teach these students the material that they wont spit out on a test and forget the next day.  I believe that every teacher is capable of producing a classroom that can be successful in all of these areas, and those are the teachers that are willing to put in the most work and dedication to their students.  Stay true to who you are as an educator and your beliefs and you will truly teach to the test.

I have placed the Wolf article below:

https://icon.uiowa.edu/d2l/lms/content/viewer/main_frame.d2l?ou=2336925&tId=3168752