Rosalee before Halloween
Monday was, of necessity, a day of independent student work because I was giving DRA reading tests. Rosalee was finishing her report on Jordan. She had been working on it for three weeks, letting me help her at each step of the research process—finding resources, taking notes, organizing them in piles, writing a rough draft, editing it together, finding pictures and the flag and a map she could reproduce, learning as much as we could about Jordan’s beautiful young queen. Rosalee was increasingly excited—partly about what she was learning and partly about the feeling of accomplishment at… Continue reading
Lost Week: The Eleventh
October 27th – October 31st, The Eleventh Week of School
Monday, October 27th No teaching time. The DRA Reading Assessments were due by 2 pm, they said, and of the 16 students who were not reading at grade level according to previous assessments such as the spring CSAP tests and/or the May benchmarks and/or the September benchmarks, I had only measured the reading deficits of 7 students with the DRA test. There were 9 left on my list, and one had been suspended for the day, so I was able to give the DRA test to only… Continue reading
No time to teach today!
Friday we got the news that all of the DRA assessments were due. That they were actually “overdue,” but the powers that be down at DPS headquarters had granted an extension until Monday for turning scores in. A month ago I took all the various sets of scores on previous assessments into account (as directed) and learned that I had 16 students who had not performed in the “proficient” band when it came to reading and, therefore, that they needed to be assessed with the “DRA” instrument. I was further advised by an administrative person that each… Continue reading
Rosalee
At a cross-level team meeting this week I learned that Rosalee spent four years in a Montessori primary class, where pre-schoolers usually spend just three years. When I brought forward some of Rosalee’s language and learning difficulties in my class, her primary teacher explained that she had been cared for during her first few years of life by a Spanish-speaking grandmother who didn’t want to confuse her, so she just didn’t talk to her at all! The teacher said that when she came to school, Rosalee had almost no language, hence the necessity of retaining her an extra… Continue reading
Week Ten: Time to Teach/Time to Learn Tally of Hours
October 20 – 24, 2008 Tally of time for teaching and learning
Monday, October 20: Uninterrupted day at school = 5 C & I hours
Tuesday, October 21: Uninterrupted day = 5 C & I hours
Wednesday, October 22: Routine interruptions for art and gym = 3.5 C & I hours
Thursday, October 23: RIF half-hour, where students choose a free books through a program called “Reading if Fun” makes total for curriculum and instruction = 4.25 hours
Friday, October 24: Specials art/gym in the morning. Total = 3.5 C & I hours
Week’s… Continue reading
Waste
There is the waste of paper.
There is the waste of instructional time.
There is the waste of students’ learning time.
There is the waste of professional time—the time of all those professionals who have been promoted out of the classroom to create assessment instruments, gather data, make up reporting software, draw up comparative charts to disseminate statistics, dream up new flow charts for rehabilitating students “falling behind” the norms arbitraily set by the assessment teams.
Friday morning two of these professionals, educators from the front office, were in place for our faculty meeting at 8:00 am to show us… Continue reading
Week Nine: Time to Teach/Time to Learn Tally of Hours
October 13 – October 17, 2008: Tally of Time for Teaching and Learning
Monday, October 14: Uninterrupted day at school = 5 C & I hours
Tuesday, October 15: Uninterrupted day = 5 C & I hours
Wednesday, October 16: Routine interruptions for art and gym = 3.5 C & I hours
Thursday, October 17: “Extra gym,” a gift from “Coach,” so total is = 4.25 C & I hours
Friday, October 18: Specials art/gym in the morning. Total = 3.5 C & I hours
Week’s Total C & I hours: 21.25 hours
NOTE:… Continue reading
Measuring Up
The statistics are public now. The scores on the first Benchmark tests are online. In the four Upper Elementary classes at Denison, there are approximately 48 fourth graders distributed equally among the classes, which also have fifth and sixth graders in their student populations. The teachers looked at the performance of these new fourth graders as a cohort in order to ascertain the cumulative status or “state of preparedness” of the entire fourth grade. Looking only at the Math scores on the first Benchmark test, there were 5 students among our 48 new fourth… Continue reading
Assessment in a “Progressive School” by Chris von Lersner
Introduction by Ann:
My niece Sabine is attending a progressive middle/high school this year. Her mother and I decided that the assessment climate at Denison, the public Montessori school where she attended last year as a student in my class, was wasting her time and potential, if not actually squelching it. At her new school, her cohort of sixth/seventh graders (her Expedition group) began the school year with a week-long camping trip followed by an assignment to create a brochure about her experience on the trip. Just a few weeks later the same group of students… Continue reading
Week Eight: Time to Teach/Time to Learn Tally of Hours
October 6 – October 10, 2008: Tally of Time for Teaching and Learning
Monday, October 6: Uninterrupted day at school = 5 C & I hours
Tuesday, October 7: Uninterrupted day = 5 C & I hours
Wednesday, October 8: Routine interruptions for art and gym = 3.5 C & I hours
Thursday, October 2: Uninterrupted day = 5 C & I hours
Friday, October 3: Specials art/gym in the morning followed by fire drill Total = 3 C & I hours
Week’s Total C & I hours: 21.5 hours
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