We just finished a round of student-led parent teacher conferences at our middle school. What struck me was the common thread of my students, echoed yesterday when we met as a group with another advisory, that they had trouble discerning the level of importance of assignments from their teachers. This has led to increased stress, and anxiety, and lowered performance, often on the most high stakes assessments.
At the same time, I am studying for the California Teachers of English Languages test, a test that effects my professional credentialing. As I read numerous textbooks and educational tracts on language acquisition, cultural differentiation and sociopsychological transitions, and then take the sample tests, I am struck by the disconnect between the testing structure, how we as teachers model testing anxiety, and how we hold dearly to types of assessment that don't really show learning. I am good at test-taking, and will pass this hurdle in my career, but don't trust the process, or its intended end. However, the reading does help me rekindle my interest in personal professional development, and how to best approach planning for my units. I never give tests, as mine is a project based classroom. I do need to make more frequent checks for understanding, do need to work on ways to give more immediate feedback, and do need to continue to vary the ways students can show both what they learned and how they learned.
The image is an example for my sixth graders who have finished a mask comprised of images of their lives (Adobe Photoshop Elements). My earlier post on totems is a different version of this lesson. Those who have finished then had the option of making the mask talk, using ComicLife to add the speech bubbles. This lesson then leads to a meta-unit on digital citizenship where the students will create superheroes to tackle immense issues involving the integration of technology in the life of the global culture we all live in.
