Schoolwide Blog

Yetta Goodman On Testing Pressures & Professional Motivations

 

 

I think that what I was saying {in earlier posts} link here about the teacher who knows a lot about reading and learning and who has a strong belief system also goes for teachers who have other motivations like:

"I need to stay in this classroom because this is my job and I have to work so I'm going to do what I'm told to do. I'm not going to question very much.  If somebody gives me a text book and tells me that somebody at the university of Oregon wrote it, I'm going to assume that it's a good textbook and I'm going to use it."

More...

LESSON OF THE WEEK 10/30/09

 

 

Lesson Title: Inspiration in our Daily Lives
Subject: Writing Workshop / Generating Ideas
Audience: K–8
---------------------------------------
Rationale:

Writers reflect and record their thoughts about their world. Students will think about their daily experiences and feelings as inspiration for writing.

Preparation:

•    Video clip: “I Look for Me in My Books” featuring author Angela Johnson

•    Book: One of Three by Angela Johnson

•    Click Here to purchase a copy of One of Three

  CLICK HERE FOR A PRINTABLE VERSION OF THIS LESSON OF THE WEEK

Inform

Writers reflect. They often think about the things they’ve seen, felt, and experienced on a daily basis. Writers also use these thoughts as inspiration for their writing. They hope that by writing down what they felt or experienced, they will touch their readers. More...

What kind of teaching do you do out of the classroom? On Obama's Race To The Top. By Yetta Goodman

 

I used to be a day camp counselor many many years ago. In fact my husband and I met as day camp counselors at the Jewish centers association in Los Angeles and we saw kids doing all kinds of learning when they were hiking, when they were doing all kinds of projects in outdoor situations More...

What do you think about DEAR programs? By S. Roy Stevenson

 

 

I was sitting in the faculty room of one our buildings listening to colleagues discuss their summer reading.  One after another mentioned a “beach book” and spoke with guilty pleasure of having read something totally trivial, a mystery or romance novel, that was “fun,” “superficial,” and thoroughly “entertaining.”  It was as if they were describing some kind of an illicit act, something they would not ordinarily do, and admitting to their friends in the sanctity of the faculty room that what took place in Vegas, stayed in Vegas. More...

Professional Development-Like It or Not?

"I’m wondering from a teacher perspective with so many different models out there what type of professional development motivates them to keep the wheels turning. I would appreciate input from the field about what experiences have enriched and informed your teaching."

During the month of August I spent several hours on the phone with administrators on various rungs of the educational ladder designing professional development for their teachers around testing, reading and writing. In most cases the dialogue revolved around the materials they needed to purchase, how many days I would be in a particular building and which grade levels I would be working with. Unfortunately in most cases I don’t get to meet with teachers to assess their needs and wants, More...

When to Begin Test Preparation?

 

The English Language Arts Assessments beginning in grade 3 as mandated by the Federal Government was intended as an instrument to measure the mastery of the English Language Arts curricula aligned to the standards developed by each state department of education. Teachers realize that for mastery of the language arts standards to be achieved learning must begin in kindergarten and be consistently reintroduced and reinforced through each subsequent grade level.The strategies and skills required of thoughtful readers and test takers to achieve competency cannot possibly be mastered in the months preceding the onset of these yearly exams. More...

Tags: test preparation, ela test

Categories: Test Preparation

Be the first to rate this post

• Currently 0/5 Stars.
• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5