Sunday, March 11, 2012

Episode 118 - Test Prep and Keeping Things Exciting

This week, we discussed the difficulties with preparing students for the major state tests without making the whole classroom be about test prep.  With Race to the Top, it's not easy.


Chat and archive can be found here.

1 comment:

jamie camp said...

I didn't listen to the discussion this week live, and I so wish I'd been able to. Testing and the hyper-focus of the "system" on student performance on standardized tests are topics troubling every good teacher that I know. To hear Maria verbalize her own frustration and sadness over the direction of our profession was heartbreaking and at the same time encouraging--because I feel the same way. So many of my colleagues, both in "real life" and online feel the same way. We are not wrong. What we are being asked to do to students--young people is wrong.

Maria, of all the people that I've come across in education, I'd say you are one of the people that sparkle the most. When you talk about your students and their learning, their innate sense of wonder and excitement about learning and life, all of us can see that you are one of the teachers that has held onto the sparkle. What a loss and a shame if our profession loses you at this time of professional insanity.

Thank you and all my friends here for helping me to hang onto the sense that what we do--have always done--for kids is important and right.