A while ago i posted an annotated bibliography. The day I published it, I decided to partner up with someone else to collaborate on a paper. I have never done this in my upper academic career, certainly not on the post graduate level. It goes without saying that i was concerned initially and without cause. IT HAS BEEN A VERY REWARDING AND ENRICHING EXPERIENCE.
It started off with a challenge, how do you find a thesis, when only the topic is in common. I present my collaborator's annotated bibliography:Annotated Bibliography
Driscoll, Donna; Halcoussis, Dennis; Svorny, Shirley (2008). Gains in Standardized
Test Scores: Evidence of diminishing returns to achievement: This is an examination of issues related to test scores which are initially high and why they only yield modest gains in the long term.
California: Economics of Education Review.
Many studies examine the characteristics of schools that achieve high or low test scores; however, little is know about issues relative to gains over the long term. Financial awards for high achieving schools, teachers and administrators are used as a motivational tool. If test results reflect the actions of school administrators and teachers then the awards should be discernible. Various factors that influence high test scores over time are examined.
Hannafin, Robert D.; Foshay, Wellesley R. (2008). Computer-Based Instruction's (CBI)
Rediscovered Role in K-12: An Evaluation Case Study of One High School's Use
of CBI to Improve Pass Rates on High-Stakes Tests: This is a case study about
how a high school implemented a remediation strategy to help students at risk of
failing the math portion of a state wide test.
Educational Technology Research and Development
This study investigates the overall effectiveness of the schools remediation strategies which included: CBI coursework, better alignment with state standards, staff development, improved delivery of traditional instruction, standards-based lesson planning, and helping at-risk students improve study and organizational skills. The study focuses more on the CBI component. Teacher’s performance ratings are directly tied to the performance of student test. There is a direct correlation between test scores and federal funding.
Annotated Bibliography
Smyth, Theoni Soublis (2008). Who Is No Child Left Behind Leaving Behind? This
is an evaluation of the NCLB( No Child Left Behind) and its effect on soci-economically disadvantaged students six years after its implementation.
Clearing House: A Journal of Educational Strategies, Issues and Ideas.
The NCLB is working for the privileged elite not for the economically disadvantage students. It is flawed legislation that puts pressure on all educators, especially teachers. This study recognizes the inequities inherent in the NCLB and how it negatively affects minorities, students with special needs, and second-language learners. This paper points out how the NCLB is money driven and how politicians use the aggregate testing data for their political platforms.
Delpit, Lisa; White-Bradley, Paula (2007). Educating or Imprisoning the Spirit:
Lessons from Ancient Egypt: This article examines the dehumanizing effects of
of mandated instructional programs designed to raise test scores of urban children.
Theory Into Practice.
Stereotyping is a handicap that has crippled intelligent minds. Teachers who care about honing their craft should willingly connect with their students and use their platform to develop inquisitive thinking minds. Children should not be classified by their socio-economic status because it’s morally destructive and dehumanizing. There are many questions to be answered but one that poignantly stands out is; Do we want to educate students spirits or incarcerate them?
November 3, 2008
Annotated Bibliography
Supon, Viola (2007). Implementing Strategies to Assist Test-Anxious Students:
Smith, Emma (2005). Raising Standards in American Schools: The Case of "No Child
Left behind"
McDonnell, Lorraine M. (2005). No Child Left Behind and the Federal Role in
Education: Evolution or Revolution?
Hollingworth, Liz (2007). Five Ways to Prepare for Standardized Tests without
Sacrificing Best Practice: This paper proposes five methods for test
preparation that may keep educators motivated without comprising their
teaching practices.
Reading Teacher
About Me
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
A little goes a long way
Just a short post this time. Last weekend, I attended both a debate competition and a robotics competition both of which had my 8th graders participating. I literally drove over a third of the state. ( I live in a different one all together.) While the robotics team didn't fair so well, the debate team kicked some serious tail. Two of my home room students (Girls A&S) won 8th place out of 160 teams of two. A won 14th place of all of the speakers.
What amazed me more was the respect they all have given me since i attended. I guess they really just need to see that you care, and are willing to go that extra mile to be there for them when someone else can't.
A little goes a long way.
It was a pleasant and teachable moment.
What amazed me more was the respect they all have given me since i attended. I guess they really just need to see that you care, and are willing to go that extra mile to be there for them when someone else can't.
A little goes a long way.
It was a pleasant and teachable moment.
Who are you?
SO I started a forensic science extracurricular club for my 8th graders. It is amazing to see how focused, dedicated, and mature they can be when they are interested in the subject matter. It makes me wish even more that we tailored education plans for our students at an earlier age. I would have liked to have been an academic during the Renaissance Age as an apprentice. If only i could get my students to behave and take notes in class on the material they will actually be tested on. I might have put the cart before the horse though as now i have 40+ interested students and the school can't find the money to order the kit/materials. The only crime scene investigation might be my own when the students find out :x
Its not on the test
When i told my friend that I was researching high stakes testing, he told me about a website called "Its not on the test" http://www.notonthetest.com/ Please check it out. It is primarily a music video by Tom Chapin (not ashamed to admit i was in a music video of his when i was a young child.) Though the song is very political, the site and the song talks about all of the areas of learning that students are missing out on because of legislation like NCLB. While I as a mad science teacher focus primarily on the lack of science my students get. (some classes get as much literacy instruction in a day that they get science in a week.) Tom is mostly referring to the decrease in the arts in our public schools. WHAT DECADE ARE WE IN!?! WASN'T THERE A DRAMATIC CUT IN THE ARTS ALREADY? Before we know it all we will be teaching is math and literacy, nothing else!
Seeing Red.....Tape
I have found that cutting through the red tape of a bureaucracy can be a more difficult task than formulating a project, or completing it. The implementation phase can be the most difficult. Rather than blathering on, fuming from frustration, I refer you to an excerpt from a recent research paper I wrote about High Stakes Testing that talks about some of the research difficulties I faced.
In designing the research methodology for this investigation, it seemed that a two pronged approach would produce the most accurate results. This investigation was initially designed to look at the effects of high stakes testing through the evaluation of prevailing educational literature as well as being driven by data gathered through surveying current educators (teachers of all levels including collegiate teachers in the field of education, administrators, etc.) as to how they viewed the effects, if any, of high stakes standardized testing. However, what was learned from attempting such an approach was how highly volatile and politicized the subject was. There are strict procedures set in place to ensure the validity of such an investigation, and due to the importance of the subject at hand, it is with good cause. Quintessentially, our literature review led us to develop certain questions which, when asked to such educators, would provide an accurate, realistic, and somewhat less biased portrait of the situation.
In designing the research methodology for this investigation, it seemed that a two pronged approach would produce the most accurate results. This investigation was initially designed to look at the effects of high stakes testing through the evaluation of prevailing educational literature as well as being driven by data gathered through surveying current educators (teachers of all levels including collegiate teachers in the field of education, administrators, etc.) as to how they viewed the effects, if any, of high stakes standardized testing. However, what was learned from attempting such an approach was how highly volatile and politicized the subject was. There are strict procedures set in place to ensure the validity of such an investigation, and due to the importance of the subject at hand, it is with good cause. Quintessentially, our literature review led us to develop certain questions which, when asked to such educators, would provide an accurate, realistic, and somewhat less biased portrait of the situation.
Too many cooks spoil the pot
It has been a while since I have written a blog for the sake of blogging. It has been really hectic at my school, as the superintendant recently came for a visit. Additionally, I had three separate, yet simultaneous observations today, two of them were unannounced. It has come to my attention in no unclear terms that the compartmentalization endemic to large school districts (which are often urban school districts) such as the one I serve, not only eat away at the budgets we all clamor for a piece of, but they detract from the ability of the teachers to do their jobs. For example, in our school, as is the district’s policy: modules (like connected math) are used to SUPPLEMENT the curriculum. We are explicitly instructed not to stick only to the modules. However, when the math department came in to observe a colleague’s math class, they told her that she could only post student work that came from the connected math module. It seems to me that the more people you have doing the same job, the less it actually gets done. One hand reaches left while the other stretches right all while the legs are walking backwards. I am reminded of a quote from “clerks the animated series”: “If it wasn’t for the customers, this job would be great.” I would love it if I could just wake up tomorrow, walk in to work and teach my students. HAHAHA! I must be dreaming already.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Amazing Things Happen as You Go
Amazing Things Happen as You Go
I HATE clichés. Love puns, but I hate clichés.
So believe me when I tell you that it pains me when I can only describe “Spectacular Things Happen Along the Way: Lessons From an Urban Classroom” as a story whose overarching message is that “its not the destination, but the journey that matters.”
In addition to the book, I looked at the class’ website (www.projectcitizen405.com) a video documentary posted online made by the students as part of the project, and a very interesting review of the book online at Arizona State University’s “Educational Review.” (Appelbaum, http://edrev.asu.edu/reviews/rev712.htm)
Though it is sad that a new school was not built, I always hope for better educational circumstances for all children, in a perverse way, that was the book’s strongest point to me. As an instructor affiliated with a national teachers corps, the case of the “white hero riding in on his/her high horse to rescue the poor minorities” is a cliché (and a misconception) that embodies why I hate clichés.
That said this was not one of those stories. There was no miracle, there was no hero, the teacher had no magic bullet, and he was not one himself. In fact, the story was not even about a teacher who “challenged the curriculum” as the book’s rear cover describes, but rather it is the story of a teacher who did his job in taking the curriculum and making it work to enrich the education and lives of his students.
This book was also particularly inspirational for me as a new teacher, who is (as described by veteran teachers) “transitioned into the ‘disillusionment phase” of my teaching career. To see what a second year teacher can accomplish is no small motivating factor for me.
Schultz shows us that even through our failures, we can achieve so much. As I go to post this, I look at the quote above the computers in my classroom
“Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars!” –Les Brown
I HATE clichés. Love puns, but I hate clichés.
So believe me when I tell you that it pains me when I can only describe “Spectacular Things Happen Along the Way: Lessons From an Urban Classroom” as a story whose overarching message is that “its not the destination, but the journey that matters.”
In addition to the book, I looked at the class’ website (www.projectcitizen405.com) a video documentary posted online made by the students as part of the project, and a very interesting review of the book online at Arizona State University’s “Educational Review.” (Appelbaum, http://edrev.asu.edu/reviews/rev712.htm)
Though it is sad that a new school was not built, I always hope for better educational circumstances for all children, in a perverse way, that was the book’s strongest point to me. As an instructor affiliated with a national teachers corps, the case of the “white hero riding in on his/her high horse to rescue the poor minorities” is a cliché (and a misconception) that embodies why I hate clichés.
That said this was not one of those stories. There was no miracle, there was no hero, the teacher had no magic bullet, and he was not one himself. In fact, the story was not even about a teacher who “challenged the curriculum” as the book’s rear cover describes, but rather it is the story of a teacher who did his job in taking the curriculum and making it work to enrich the education and lives of his students.
This book was also particularly inspirational for me as a new teacher, who is (as described by veteran teachers) “transitioned into the ‘disillusionment phase” of my teaching career. To see what a second year teacher can accomplish is no small motivating factor for me.
Schultz shows us that even through our failures, we can achieve so much. As I go to post this, I look at the quote above the computers in my classroom
“Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars!” –Les Brown
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)