ELLEN
BERG
Diary #18
Teaching
Students How to
Give the Man What He Wants
I feel like a teacher divided.
On the one hand, I think about all the good teaching practices available to me, all geared to help my students become proficient readers, writers, and thinkers. On the other hand, I feel the pressure associated with our students' performances on our high stakes tests. I stand in the middle, seeing the value of both areas, yet I am having a difficult time reconciling the two. How do the two coexist? I know research and general thought contend that if we are focused on students becoming adept readers, writers, and thinkers, the test scores will rise. In my mind I believe that, but every once in awhile it occurs to me that simply having good reading, thinking, and writing skills might not be enough. Sometimes, hoop-jumping is necessary. Not what you say, but the way you say it. I want my kids to do well on our state test. As state tests go, the MAP is pretty good. It requires students to complete constructed response questions rather than bubbling in the answers to disconnected facts. I do not want my kids to do well on the test for me, their school, or the district, but for themselves. They are so beaten down under the opinions of people who have no understanding of the challenges they face, who believe they are lazy, stupid, or criminals.And so I sit, feeling pulled in both directions. How do I successfully integrate test preparation with quality reading and writing instruction?
My frustration bubbles up
At the end of every ten weeks the district sends us a diagnostic assessment in the format of the MAP for the kids to take. Teachers are required to score (and bubble in--I have to bubble in 900 bubbles with end scores) the tests. While it does give me some valuable information about what my students are able to do, it also takes up three days of class time, builds resentment in my kids about tests, and often is not a completely fair measurement of their comprehension.As I scored my students' tests, one thing became clear: in many cases it was obvious they understood the question and supplied the answer; however, because they did not supply more than one detail, they often missed one out of the two points. Nowhere in the directions did it ask for a certain number of details, and in some cases the answer was so simple that only one piece of support seemed necessary. My students gave their audience more credit than their audience gave them.
Then there was a lack of authenticity with some of the tasks. Student after student questioned one activity in particular which required them to write a letter to a friend, telling them about the book. "I'm supposed to write to a friend?" they asked in disbelief. "Why would I do that?" Many of the students addressed their letters to me, to "friend," or to fictional people.
I probably would not have even noticed their irritation at this activity if I had not just attended a second in-service on reading with Dr. Kylene Beers. Dr. Beers shared students' comments about what they did not like about reading, and one student in particular pointed out that many times teachers ruined good books by assigning book projects, study guides, and other activities like writing to friends. "Why can't we just talk about the book?" he asked. I am frustrated because my students showed they understood the text completely, yet most of them did poorly on the assessment simply because they did not answer in a particular way. Now I am faced with spending valuable class time teaching them how to smile and nod and give "the man" what he wants rather than spending that same time helping them become better readers and writers. What are we teaching our kids about reading and writing? Reading is something to be tested, not enjoyed. We can know the answers, but if we don't write it in the right way, we are wrong. I see their confidence stripped away, and I am backpedaling to help them put this all in perspective.
