How Do You Evaluate Teachers

Who Change Lives?

 

I read the title of this article and was drawn in immediately.  I have often wondered how some teachers will fare with the new evaluation system.  So many things good teachers do can't be measured by numbers.

 

 

The author of this article was a troubled high school student that was fortunate enough to come across a teacher who really made a difference in her life during her 9th grade year.  As she tells her story, this teacher didn't always do things the conventional way and may not have been highly in favor with administration.  He dared to be controversial and do what he knew in his gut was right.  This 9th grader is now a 35-year veteran of the public school system and currently a school superintendant.  She remains in contact with this teacher who made such a difference for her.  But she wonders if he might have been fired if evaluated by today's system.

 

 

This author writes that her greatest worry is "that teachers will fade into deadly, robotic, fit-the-rubric nonentities and receive high scores, but offer nothing of substance to students - nothing to carry with them for a lifetime."

 

 

We all need to think about the true goals of education.  Aren't we meant to do more than teach reading and math?  Shouldn't we be having a positive impact on students in other ways that can affect their lives for the better?  I hope you can take a few minutes to read this article.  I found it inspiring and think you will too.

 

 

http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2013/04/17/28cella.h32.html



PARCC (Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers) is composed of 22 states.  It is designing the assessments that will take the place of FCAT in 2014-15.  All assessments will be computer-based at that time.  PARCC has recently released its draft accommodations manual for ELL students and students with disabilities.  This is something I have wondered about.  There were some glitches this year with FCAT math testing, since it was the first year that fifth graders took that test online.  There were accommodations in place for some students.

In this recently released draft, ELL accommodations must meet three conditions:

• "It must reduce the 'linguistic load' or complexity of the language that is necessary for students to access the content in curriculum or on the assessment;
• It can't alter what is being measured in a test item or alter the test itself;
• It has to help 'address the unique linguistic and socio-cultural needs of an EL by reducing the effects of English-language skills on the student's overall performance on the assessment." 

There are guidelines for determining which students receive these special ELL accommodations.  There are specific accommodations available and listed.  Some accommodations are built into the computer program, such as a highlighting tool and definitions for specific words that don't provide an advantage in answering the question.  There are some areas that still need work, such as a student who is permitted to speak their answers to a scribe (as in a pencil-and-paper test).  The policy on translations is due this summer.




To view the entire article, see:
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/learning-the-language/2013/04/parcc_releases_draft_policy_on.html        

Cursive – A Disappearing Skill?

I found yet another article about the waning relevance of cursive handwriting in school.  This article was in The Washington Post.  As in the previous article, the new national standards were cited as part of the blame.  Other reasons for the decline in teaching cursive handwriting are lean budgets and lack of time in the school day.  The new standards set the learning goals and objectives students need to be successful in the world after high school.  Obviously, technology is engrained in every aspect of our lives in some way.

It's hard to blame teachers for their reluctance to spend time teaching cursive.  After all, much of our testing is done online now.  In the near future, all of our standardized testing will be via computer.  Students need to be proficient typists in order to successfully complete their assessments in the time permitted.  Most people seem to agree that, while cursive handwriting can be beautiful and some of our older historical documents are written in cursive, the need to learn it is rapidly becoming obsolete.

Deborah Spear, an academic therapist, disagrees, but not simply because of the beauty of cursive or its usefullness in interpreting old documents.  She relies on cursive handwriting when working with dyslexic students.  "Because all letters in cursive start on a base line, and because the pen moves fluidly from left to right, cursive is easier to learn for dyslexic students who have trouble forming words correctly."  She states, "Yes, needing to read cursive is greatly diminishing in our society, but it's still very applicable as an instructional tool."

Steve Graham is an education professor at Arizona State University and also a top U.S. expert on handwriting instruction.  He says, "I can't remember the last time I read the Constitution.  The truth is that cursive writing is pretty much gone, except in the adult world for people in their 60s and 70s."  He ends with the assertion that, "The question is why teach two forms of writing when one will do the trick?  Something's gotta give.  Cursive handwriting is under pressure."

As for me, I can still be swayed either way.  I hate to see cursive go completely by the wayside.  I can't imagine signing my signature in print.  That just doesn't seem right to me.  I still write in cursive for students occasionally, just so they can at least learn to read it.  I practice reading cursive with my grandchildren.  In fact, my second grade granddaughter excitedly told me last week that she was going to be learning cursive over the balance of the school year. 


The article can be found at http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/cursive-handwriting-disappearing-from-public-schools/2013/04/04/215862e0-7d23-11e2-a044-676856536b40_story.html

Cursive – To Teach or Not To Teach

What are your thoughts about teaching cursive handwriting in elementary school?  How about memorization of multiplication facts?  Cursive is no longer required.  At one time, cursive was taught in third through fifth grades, but not anymore.  The state of North Carolina has decided it is important enough to do something about it.  Also, because students are using calculators more and more, they are very concerned about children not learning their multiplication facts in elementary school.

The state House of Representatives unanimously passed legislation recently to require students to learn both in elementary schools throughout North Carolina.  Known as the "Back to Basics" bill, 107 voted yes, with no dissenters.  The bill goes to the state Senate next and, if approved, will be implemented in the 2013-2014 school year.

Disappointment was expressed when the Common Core State Standards failed to address cursive handwriting at all.  While some believe that with today's technology, there is little need to be able to write cursive, others strongly disagree.  The main criticism I have read here and in other articles is the need to be able to read historic documents.  Without the ability to read cursive, they may as well be written in another language.  Students would no longer be able to read the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, or letters from Presidents Abraham Lincoln and Thomas Jefferson.

California, Georgia, Idaho and Massachusetts feel the same way, as they are all resinstituting cursive as a requirement in their schools.

I remember feeling all grown up when I learned how to write cursive in elementary school.  Since it is a school-based decision, some students here in Florida still learn how.  My granddaughter was very excited since she was beginning to learn cursive today.  I believe it is still a very important skill to learn, but can also understand that teachers have so many things to fit into their days that it seems like something has to go.  Unfortunately, things like cursive are the first to be cut.



http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/04/04/2801884/nc-house-passes-cursive-handwriting.html

Creativity Through Nonfiction Texts

I have worked hard to learn everything I can about the Common Core Standards.  While I am excited about their implementation, there are teachers who don't feel the same way.  Many are worried about additional work on their part.  Some are concerned about the new assessments that will accompany the new standards.  Something I had not considered or heard until reading this article is that the CCSS will further slow down students' creativity.  In elementary school, the texts students are required to work with are an even 50/50 split between fiction and nonfiction.  However, by the end of high school, students will work with 70% nonfiction text and only 30% fiction.  For this reason, teachers are concerned about the stifling of creativity because of reading so much dry informational text.

David Coleman, President of the College Board and an architect of the new standards, is quoted in this article as saying during an NPR interview: "The idea is that things like Lincoln's second inaugural address and Martin Luther King's letter from the Birmingham jail ... are worthy of close attention.  ...  Not just in a historical context, but also for the interweaving of thought and language."  The remainder of the article contains explanations by the author (Nathan Sun-Kleinberger) of how he uses nonfiction text while teaching his students creativity.  He teaches AP Language and Composition.  Sun-Kleinberger follows with specific examples of how he does this.  He proves that when a writer makes purposebul choices in his words, he can be creative in writing nonfiction.  In his examples, he uses the Declaration of Independence, inaugural addresses, and Amy Chua's Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother.  These are all wonderful examples of how an effective teacher can use almost any material to inspire students and relate the text to real-world situations.

Education is in (another) state of change and change is usually frightening for the majority of people.  If we embrace the change as a step forward, we can make the most of it.  I like the way the last line of this article sums it up: "If we have the courage to embrace nonfiction writing as an art form, perhaps we will inspire our students to freely speak their minds like King, Lincoln, and Roosevelt."


http://www.edweek.org/tm/articles/2013/04/03/tln_sunkleinberger_literacystandards.html?tkn=WMCC7Mil54GV0%2BqU%2Bmb9JARWgLDMMHQoVFed&cmp=clp-sb-teacher

Common Core State Standards --

Ready or Not, Here It Comes!

 

Most states have now adopted the new Common Core State Standards.  Florida is among them.  I, for one, am excited about the new standards.  I have attended conferences and trainings about them over the past year and a half or so and believe they will enable teachers to once again rely more on their own expertise rather than a scripted basal reader.  After attending a state conference in Ft. Lauderdale in June of 2012 with my principal and two other teachers, my position in my school was changed from a third grade teacher to the Professional Development Resource Teacher.  My primary responsibilities were to assist teachers as they made the transition from the NGSSS to the CCSS and to deliver appropriate professional development sessions to augment those efforts.

 

Therefore, it pleased me to see the article on edweek.org.  The state department of education in Tennessee has selected 704 teachers to be trained in depth in the Common Core State Standards and to then train the other 30,000 teachers in Tennessee.  The hope is that there will be greater teacher buy-in when other teachers are leading the way in the trainings.  The session will consist of five weeks of summer training led by teacher-coaches.  There are no other states mentioned in the article that are planning on such a comprehensive training.  Maybe it should be considered.

 

 

http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/curriculum/2013/04/i_recent_heard_from_a.html

"Taking a New Approach to Reading in Epping"

 

This is a short article, but one that I found very interesting after reading Thomas Newkirk's book.  Teachers at Epping Elementary School in New Hampshire have "uncluttered" their curriculum, following Newkirk's sixth literacy principle.  They elected to teach without a basal reader and without teaching guides.  While I've personally heard teachers say they would like to do this, I seriously doubt that most would actually follow through.

 

 

The Epping teachers admit that it is more work for them, but they believe it is worth it.  The students' reading and writing scores have improved and they seem more excited about reading and learning.  Instead of teaching guides, teachers observe students and create their own lessons based upon student needs.  How can this not be successful when done with integrity?

 

 

Other schools are beginning to incorporate this new reading model also.  Students are allowed to choose books they want to read and are reading more independently.  As a result, the students like to read more.  Obviously, because this involves extra work and judgment by teachers, it takes special people to teach in this environment.  I would personally love the challenge!

 

 

http://www.unionleader.com/article/20130329/NEWS04/130328963