Imagine IT
One of the dilemmas that resonates with me from What Should I do? by Anna Richert is the dilemma with assessment. What have my students learned and how will I know? Is the question that teachers ask daily throughout planning, implementation, and closure of every lesson activity. What do students know is also a question that is asked by administrators, politicians, and other stakeholders. Richert explores assessment dilemmas by acknowledging the testing pressures placed on urban students. I teach in an urban school and I am familiar with the pressures that testing presents. Richert states,
Typically students in poor communities score lower on the standardized tests than their middle- and upper-class peers. As a consequence they are subjected to more tests, based on the hope that monitoring their progress in this way will lead to eliminating the achievement gap. The result is that students who most need accurate assessments have fewer opportunities to demonstrate what they know and can do. Ironically, because of the time it takes to prepare for and take the tests, there is less instructional and learning time in their school lives as well. Often their teachers, in order to comply with the external mandates, find themselves acting in ways they believe are not in the best interest of their students.
Since implementing my Imagine IT project in September, I have administered three district wide standardized assessments. These test are mandated and monitored by our school’s network. Teachers are given a curriculum scope and sequence to follow which the standardized assessment measures students’ mastery of the curriculum from the scope and sequence. This level of management and accountability restricts what I can teach, when I can teach it, and its duration.
My greatest fear with implementing my Imagine IT is having enough time to fully explore real world problems in depth without losing instructional time for students to practice and master the content they will be tested on quarterly by the network. My Imagine IT project is where students use problem based learning to make real world applications using math and science content. Problem based learning projects are lengthy. After collaborating with my colleagues, I have decided to modify problem based learning activities to ensure students receive exposure over the variety of content they are assessed on bi-monthly. I have included several STEM based activities in lieu of monthly problem based learning projects to manage the dilemma of testing and time.
Since writing my implementation report and now, I have discovered that quality versus the quantity of assessments contribute to powerful student learning. Vygotsky describes this type of learning as a sociocultural phenomenon.
Sociocultural learning theorists explain that learning happens, not when students memorize what their teachers or their textbooks say, but when students participate with peers and their teachers in “communities of practice” to develop understanding and the ability to use knowledge flexibly in new and different ways.
This is the heart of my Imagine It. That I will create an environment of learning where students are presented with quality learning opportunities that they are eager to explore in collaboration with their peers. A learning community where there are multiple forms of instruction and assessment that welcomes students’ varied interest, backgrounds, and talents instead of molding the students to one standardized assessment.
Richert, Anna Ershler (2012-04-06). What Should I Do? Confronting Dilemmas of Teaching in Urban Schools (Series on School Reform) (pp. 80-81). Teachers College Press. Kindle Edition.
Richert, Anna Ershler (2012-04-06). What Should I Do? Confronting Dilemmas of Teaching in Urban Schools (Series on School Reform) (p. 79). Teachers College Press. Kindle Edition.
Typically students in poor communities score lower on the standardized tests than their middle- and upper-class peers. As a consequence they are subjected to more tests, based on the hope that monitoring their progress in this way will lead to eliminating the achievement gap. The result is that students who most need accurate assessments have fewer opportunities to demonstrate what they know and can do. Ironically, because of the time it takes to prepare for and take the tests, there is less instructional and learning time in their school lives as well. Often their teachers, in order to comply with the external mandates, find themselves acting in ways they believe are not in the best interest of their students.
Since implementing my Imagine IT project in September, I have administered three district wide standardized assessments. These test are mandated and monitored by our school’s network. Teachers are given a curriculum scope and sequence to follow which the standardized assessment measures students’ mastery of the curriculum from the scope and sequence. This level of management and accountability restricts what I can teach, when I can teach it, and its duration.
My greatest fear with implementing my Imagine IT is having enough time to fully explore real world problems in depth without losing instructional time for students to practice and master the content they will be tested on quarterly by the network. My Imagine IT project is where students use problem based learning to make real world applications using math and science content. Problem based learning projects are lengthy. After collaborating with my colleagues, I have decided to modify problem based learning activities to ensure students receive exposure over the variety of content they are assessed on bi-monthly. I have included several STEM based activities in lieu of monthly problem based learning projects to manage the dilemma of testing and time.
Since writing my implementation report and now, I have discovered that quality versus the quantity of assessments contribute to powerful student learning. Vygotsky describes this type of learning as a sociocultural phenomenon.
Sociocultural learning theorists explain that learning happens, not when students memorize what their teachers or their textbooks say, but when students participate with peers and their teachers in “communities of practice” to develop understanding and the ability to use knowledge flexibly in new and different ways.
This is the heart of my Imagine It. That I will create an environment of learning where students are presented with quality learning opportunities that they are eager to explore in collaboration with their peers. A learning community where there are multiple forms of instruction and assessment that welcomes students’ varied interest, backgrounds, and talents instead of molding the students to one standardized assessment.
Richert, Anna Ershler (2012-04-06). What Should I Do? Confronting Dilemmas of Teaching in Urban Schools (Series on School Reform) (pp. 80-81). Teachers College Press. Kindle Edition.
Richert, Anna Ershler (2012-04-06). What Should I Do? Confronting Dilemmas of Teaching in Urban Schools (Series on School Reform) (p. 79). Teachers College Press. Kindle Edition.
Spring Forward
I am fully engaged with my students and with instruction. I have explored STEM in literature and in application. My ImagineIT has went from a dream to a reality even in the face of adversity. Dilemmas are real and more present in the school where I work as it is a low performing school. I have used my improv skills to adjust to the dilemmas that challenge me from fully implementing my ImagineIT project. My number one dilemma is time. Staying on track with the network’s instructional scope and sequence alone is difficult because half of my students are performing below grade level which requires more time for them to master a grade level concept. I am tasked with balancing my network’s instructional scope and sequence in conjunction with my ImagineIT STEM project. With that being said, I have created a timeline to help me stay focused on my goal which is to provide students with learning adventures that embraces analysis, synthesis, and evaluation of mathematical concepts. This goal can be achieved with me focusing instruction on cultivating disciplined minds.
This spring I would like to spend more time on Problem Based Learning. During the fall semester, I have settled for leading my students through weekly STEM activities in lieu of Problem Based Learning projects due to time restraints and knowledge deficits. Problem Based Learning (PBL) projects are most effective when used as a summative assessment that cumulates information learned. Since it takes my students a little longer to master a concept, we haven’t been able to explore a PBL. My goal this spring is to implement two Problem Based Learning projects. The first PBL will focus on multiplication. We have studied multiplication since August and they should be able to fully engage in a PBL with me as a facilitator. The second PBL will be on division.
My hope for the spring Implementation is that students become inquisitive about the math they explore and the world they live in.
This spring I would like to spend more time on Problem Based Learning. During the fall semester, I have settled for leading my students through weekly STEM activities in lieu of Problem Based Learning projects due to time restraints and knowledge deficits. Problem Based Learning (PBL) projects are most effective when used as a summative assessment that cumulates information learned. Since it takes my students a little longer to master a concept, we haven’t been able to explore a PBL. My goal this spring is to implement two Problem Based Learning projects. The first PBL will focus on multiplication. We have studied multiplication since August and they should be able to fully engage in a PBL with me as a facilitator. The second PBL will be on division.
My hope for the spring Implementation is that students become inquisitive about the math they explore and the world they live in.
