| To subscribe |
 |
INSPIRED TEACHER BLOG
Can Standardized Testing and Whole Child Teaching Coexist?
Only if Whole Child Teaching Comes First.
|
In classrooms across the US students and teachers are busy getting ready for the big standardized tests that come each spring. These tests are often seen as antithetical to the whole child instructional approach. Although they have become too much of a focus in our schools, and have done damage to the reputation for creativity, spontaneity, and innovation that once made the teaching profession so exciting - for the near term they are here to stay, and we Inspired Teachers are here to stay, so it's important to find a way to prove that good teaching (as we know it) and student achievement (as measured by these tests) are not mutually exclusive...
Read More.
|
Center for Inspired Teaching is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that exists to ensure schools make the most of children's innate desire to learn. We do this by investing in teachers. Please visit our website to learn more about our philosophy, programs, and results.
|
The Week Ahead
|
|
National Library Week is April 11-17. This year's theme is "Communities thrive @ your library." To prepare for the celebration, the American Library Association has a wide range of programming and publicity materials.
April 11-17 is also National Environmental Education Week, inspiring environmental learning and stewardship among students the week before Earth Day. The theme is "Be Water and Energy Wise!" Registered partners gain access to a variety of free resources.
|
BECOME A FAN OF INSPIRED TEACHING
|
Check out our Facebook page and become a fan of the organization.
Inspired Teaching is now on Twitter as InspireTeach. Follow us to get regular updates! These are new ways you can stay connected to Inspired Teaching and, even better, a way we can stay connected to you!
|
|
|
Do my students have the supports they need to succeed?
|
|
This is Part V in a series on Teaching the Whole Child. Read the previous issue (Do my students look forward to going to school?) here.
As we look at the 4th pillar of whole child teaching: SUPPORT, it seems timely to consider what this term means in the context of impending standardized tests. Right now hundreds of thousands of teachers are being asked to adjust their teaching to meet the demands of crunch time.
It's more important than ever at this time of year NOT to forget the pillars of good teaching when you make that final push to support your students so they can succeed on these tests. Though the tests themselves are mostly about content knowledge and basic skills, your children don't suddenly become one-dimensional processors of information once the cherry trees bloom. If they've been using their minds well all year, why the sudden shift in practice now? They still need the social, emotional, and physical support they've needed since August.
It's easy to shelve these facets of teaching and learning when you're bombarded with strategies to move "bubble students" and scantron sheets and practice tests fill your mailbox each morning. But a tree with just one root in the ground won't grow very strong, tall, or fast - and children who are only receiving academic supports won't either.
Don't throw what you know to be true out the window, resist the temptation to simply spend this time cramming. You'll be miserable in the process and so will your students. Support your students right now by preparing them to succeed on the tests, but also:
Demonstrate care for them as whole-people beyond their scores, continue to know each of them well. Can you take time out to simply connect with the class about what's going on outside of school? Are you making contact with families to enlist their support in test preparation, and to share student accomplishments and challenges so encouragement and feedback isn't only coming from you? Have you talked with students individually about anything besides these tests lately? A single conversation about a pet, a family member, a movie you both watched, or a similar touchstone can keep students connected to you and willing to push through what can often be a very challenging part of the school year.
Find ways to honor the whole child in every classroom experience, even those that involve the rote learning of test prep. How can you read and respond to their feelings about these tests? How can you make the learning physical as well as mental? How can you inspire your students to be each others' cheerleaders when game day arrives?
When students feel supported by the adults in their schools they feel more safe, more respected, more willing to take intellectual risks, and more invested in the process of personal improvement. When we teach to the whole child, the whole child succeeds. When we teach to the test we risk losing sight of the children altogether.
|
Research and Resources
|
|
Resources for Boosting Student Support
Family Engagement in Education: Seven Principles for Success
This booklet from the National Resource Center on Charter School Finance and Governance provides guidance on how to support family involvement in school.
Ready to Learn, Empowered to Teach: Guiding Principles for Effective Education
This document from the National Association of School Psychologists outlines policy recommendations that could be part of the new ESEA for providing the right school supports to meet the needs of the whole child, including those with barriers to learning.
Ways to Think About Assessment
Is there a better way to prepare for the test?
An Inspired Teacher newsletter from last year that provides different ways of approaching test preparation.
Assessment Through the Student's Eyes, Rick Stiggins
Rather than sorting students into winners and losers, assessment for learning can put all students on a winning streak.
The National Center for Fair & Open Testing (FairTest)
works to end the misuses and flaws of standardized testing and to ensure that evaluation of students, teachers and schools is fair, open, valid and educationally beneficial.
Advice for Parents During Test Time
Support Your Child During Test Time, Fresno Education Examiner
11 Ways to Help Your Child Prepare, Family Education
|
Opportunities
|
|
Horace on the Hill-
The Coalition of Essential Schools is organization this year's "Horace
on the Hill." Once again, the idea is to bring students and educators
to the Hill to advocate to their elected officials for a different set
of policies that strengthen our commitment to create cultures of
learning, a profession of highly-effective teachers and a system of
public education committed to fairness for all kids. The dates are
April 19-20, 2010. Please contact Jill Davidson at the Coalition with
any questions at: jdavidson@essentialschools.org.
How Research Informs the Teaching of Various Disciplines
Monday,
April 12, 2010, 7:00 pm at Green Acres School Rockville, MD - lecture
series presented by progressive educators including our own Christie
Byers! Reservations required: speakerseries@greenacres.org
Rethink Learning Now
April Issue Focus: The School to Prison Pipeline
What does this mean? Check out a site chock full of resources to find out.
Teaching Outside the Textbook
The Zinn Education Project is giving away classroom sets (25 books per set) of Howard Zinn's best-seller, A People's History of the United States, to 20 teachers who submit 2-4page stories about how they teach a people's history in the classroom. Deadline is Monday, April 26.
Save the dates for City at Peace DC! MAY 7, 8 and 9, 2010
In
less than six short weeks, this year's cast of City at Peace DC will
debut the world premiere musical they have created based on the issues
they are grappling with every day.
Folger Shakespeare Library High School Fellowship Program
Between
September 8 and December 13, 2010, sixteen high school sophomores,
juniors, and seniors will have the opportunity to explore Shakespeare's
plays as scholars, actors, and audience members through Folger
Shakespeare Library's High School Fellowship Program. The application
deadline for the High School Fellowship Program is Friday, April 23. If
you have questions, please contact us at 202.675.0365 or at educate@folger.edu.
| |
|
|
|
