I know we complain a lot here about NCLB and teaching to the test, so I hesitated even to post this. But I just thought it was so ridiculous, I wanted to see if other people were running into the same thing. I was at a workshop today with 4th and 5th Grade teachers. We have the dreaded TAKS test this week, so they were comparing notes on how they prepared for it. One of the 5th Grade teachers said she actually got in trouble at her school for using books to teach reading. Her grade level and administration said she had to use the only reading passages. A 4th Grade teacher said she was told to teach writing from 8:00 until they returned from lunch at 12:30 (4 hours?) and then the rest of the day to teach reading. The principal walked in at 2:00 and she was doing a math lesson and she was also reprimanded. Is that just ridiculous or is it just me? It's not like she was teaching them to salsa dance or something completely unrelated to education. I mean since when did teaching math or with actual books go out the window? I'm so worried about the direction we are headed in this country education-wise.
Kinder, that is riduculous! I don't know many principals that would actually reprimand teachers for teaching reading using real world applications instead of passages or for teaching math. Is the teacher supposed to wait until after the test to squeeze the math curriculum in? 4 hours of teaching writing?!? I, too, am worried about the future of education in this country. I came up with a letter I'm thinking of sending to Gov. Rick Perry and President Bush.
I don't believe doing reading passages all year long is going to cut it! These kids need to be reading books and talking and thinking about what they have read!!! So many of the questions on the test talk about author's purpose, organization of text, and the theme of the story! The best way for students to learn these things is through reading good books and actually having time to read independently in class! I've done maybe 3 passages this year! I've had over 90% passing on the 2 benchmark exams! (I teach in a Title I school and have the dyslexic students.) I believe that if you actually teach kids how to think critically and give them time to read they will do fine on the test. Its a shame what NCLB has done to our education system! "Its not on the test, so don't worry about it!" Thats why our kids our missing so many skills! Of course I am still nervous about Wednesday, but I have confidence that my kiddos are well prepared!
oh my goodness that's disturbing! i can't believe they were reprimanded for doing something that is clearly part of their job description! i am also worried about the direction our country is going with teaching. (smalltown i'd love to read your letter!) is anyone asking the teachers what's going on with these kids!?!? the people making decisions don't seem to be spending any time in the classroom. i have another scary thing to share... i know of a district who has had a recent emphasis in technology (which is awesome). they no longer use their school libraries (books are on carts) and they are talking about doing away with those as well and focusing on tech instead. i know technology is important... but has anyone considered all of the literacy problems??? doesn't READING help??? it's stories like these that just make me go "HUH???"
I cannot believe that any principal would reprimand a teacher for teaching with books or teaching math! Reading a book takes more skills than a passage and, if you are discussing it properly, uses the same thinking needed on the tests. Four hours of writing? I think that if schools are teaching all of the subjects and differentiating the way they should, the students pass the test. If anything, four hours of writing makes them want to rush through yet another writing assignment.
It depends on what the word reprimand means. If he said something to them because that was not what he told them to do then I would understand. If he formally wrote it up, I would be livid because it really is still within the educational scope.
Sadly,this is happening all over the country. Everyone but some of the children, are terrified by the Language Arts and Math judgement exams,. Thinking,behaving,and logic has lost their importance.IN NY the tests have become easier,over the last ten years,the marking of the non short answer part is a joke,yet everyone is basically judged by the scores on these two exams.Pass the exams,don't do any classwork or homework,get into 75 fights and still get promoted to the next grade.I admire everyone who does not do hour after hour of test prep,but teachers their classes to reason and think.
Thank you for your responses. I'm glad to know it's not just me. I agree TXTeach - I also think reading books is the best way to build vocabulary. I think it's awesome you limit their passage reading and really once they get their "strategies" down, what is purpose? I'm sure your kids will ace the test Wed. CutNGlue - it wasn't written up, but the principal came in and said "what are you doing teaching math?" (That alone to me just sounds ridiculous-I don't think I could have kept a straight face). The teacher told her that they were the objectives they were supposed to be covering and she was worried about skipping math because that is going to be tested next month not to mention she is trying to prepare them for 5th Grade. The principal told her she could worry about that after the writing TAKS. I just can't imagine having to justify teaching my kids a core subject! It's like they just want these kids to cram for the test, instead of building onto the objectives all year long. heatherleigh - no books - that is disturbing. Tasha-not only that but do you think any of those kids like writing anymore. It's like we are beating the passion out of these kids for reading and writing simply trying to get a higher score on a test.
I know I've read somewhere that the only proven indicator of test achievement is time spent reading ... As in real reading. When I hear about the kind of of stuff you have described it makes me feel sick.
I'm not saying I agree with him at all. I'm saying if my boss told me to teach only that, then that is the expectation. I don't know what was said by the boss previously.
There has to be a balance. It's ridiculous to only teach 2 subjects all day. And what happens when test results come back and math scores are down???
WOW, I too am concerned about the direction education is headed in this country. Reading stories like that makes my excitement for teaching diminish..
That's less the fault of the federal legislation itself than it is a sort of trickle-down hysteria. It makes me think that the people imposing it either don't trust their teacher-employees to know how to pass tests or can't themselves pass tests.
After many of the posts here today, I'm tempted to simply say she broke the rules, she should suffer the consequences. Rules are rules. I don't really believe that, though, so I'd ask instead: was she doing word problems? I think there's a pretty good case for using math word problems to teach language. Word problems need to be written in a precise fashion, and need to be read accurately. In standardized testing it's particularly important to read carefully, and this could be taught with math word problems as well as most other materials.
This happens at my school. We are not allowed to teach social studies or science until after the testing is complete...sometime in April. If we want to get any Social Studies or Science in we have to use reading passages about those subjects. Also, last year I taught a novel to the fifth graders and my principal didn't like it. She wanted me to use reading passages that specifically taught the skills that were going to be on the test. For writing we were even told to have the students use quotation marks, because they would get points for the writing exam, even if they were used wrong. If we don't follow these "guidline" we also get reprimanded. Sad but true
Yikes!! Did they tell you to have them throw in a few unnecessary semi colons and apostrophes for extra credit, too? That is just ridiculous!
:lol::lol: I taught for the Princeton Review (test prep company) for several years. I always enjoyed the advice on writing the essay. They're scored 1 - 5. Each scorer has about a minute and a half to look at each essay. So the advice tends to be rather limited and amusingly superficial. Make paragraphs. Believe it or not, quite a few students use blocks of text. Write an answer to the question. It's important to do this even if you don't support the thesis particularly well. It's not a logic test, so you could actually support your thesis with some pretty bad reasoning and not suffer (at least in theory -- probably in practice too, given the short time they have to score it). Use a couple of two-dollar words. Have transition sentences (hence, thus, therefore, etc.). Unless your grammar and/or spelling is truly awful, those tips are likely to get you at least an average and probably above-average score. Throwing in superfluous semicolons would probably help. Better yet, teach your students to actually use a semicolon; it's not that hard. Just pick two sentences that are related, and put a semicolon between them instead of a period (it's not perfect depending on the sentences, but it's close).
Tell those administrators exactly what they want to hear and close your door and really teach these kids what you want to.
Read these posts from teachers around the US and don't tell me you are not scared about what is passing for education in our schools today.
Funny thing is that we were told that by the State Department of Education in a writing training!!! lol We were also told not to worry about teaching kids to indent a paragraph because they weren't scored on it......I know, all of this seems unbelievable and insane!!!!
'Superfluou's apostrophe's are, for many grader's, red flag's. (Gropie? Gropie?? Who you callin' a gropie, testosterone person?)
As a beginner I must say that all this is absolutely terrifying. It seems like instead of teaching to the test, we have gotten to the point of teaching ways around it.
In all fairness, once you get the tests back and look at the kids actual tests you find inconsistencies. Students who score great should not have and students who score poor should have scored better. The test system is flawed all around.
People who score more poorly on tests than they ought to often have anxiety of one sort or another, and that's something that can be resolved. People who score rather better than one expects pose a different set of issues. In some cases they cheated; in others, they got lucky; but there are also people applying skills on the test that either they haven't learned to apply in the classroom or that, for whatever reason, they haven't felt called upon to apply in the classroom. Or in some cases it took something in the test to crystallize their thinking. I don't mean to suggest that there aren't tests that are stupidly written, because there certainly are.
