Week 8, Blog 3 - Standardized Test Prep

The article is from the following site: http://www.edutopia.org/blog/how-to-make-standardized-test-prep-available-to-all-students.

With standardized testing being so prevalent in today’s educational field, this article provides some important ideas that can help teachers, schools, and students best prepare for the high-stakes tests.  The first strategy that Alexander provides is to have students read, read, read.  Not only should they be reading, but they should be reading with a focus on determining the tone, theme, structure, and purpose of the author.  If they do this, then they will be directing their reading, focusing it, and formulating an understanding of the overall piece.  From there, they’ll have a better chance at correctly answering the questions on the standardized test.  This idea is crucial.  It cannot just be about teaching students how to understand the plot of something.  I have to strive to teach my students how to think more dynamically about the works that they are reading.  If I can get students to read and think in a more complex manner, then the students will have a better chance at improving on the standardized tests.

Another strategy that is provided is for teachers to help students build their vocabularies.  This includes teaching them how to break down the words, use context clues, and so on.  One of the best ways to do this is to do think alouds.  Teachers need to show students how they can break down the words so that they can better understand the reading.  If students cannot decipher what words mean, then they will be unable to read effectively as they will be lost.  We cannot afford to have this happen.  Teachers have to instill within students a stronger vocabulary.  One other way that we can help improve their vocabulary is for students to use their smartphones when they encounter a word that they don’t understand.  They can look it up on their smartphone and have it defined for them immediately.  This should happen in the classroom.

One final strategy that she suggested was to have students do their own practicing.  This is huge.  Teachers and administrators have to make these test guides available to students.  Many are cheap and online.  The more students practice, the better they will do.  It has to be noted that it is not only the responsibility of the teachers and schools to prepare students for these tests; it is also the responsibility of the students and parents as well.

Alexander, Andrea. “Leveling the Playing Field: How to Make Standardized Test Preparation Accessible to All Students.”  6 July 2011.  Web.  Edutopia.org. 7 Aug. 2011.  <http://www.edutopia.org/blog/how-to-make-standardized-test-prep-available-to-all-students>.

Week 8, Blog 2 - Assessment

The article is from the following site: http://www.edutopia.org/stw-assessment-ten-lessons-get-started.

With assessment being such an important and vital aspect within teaching, the Edutopia Staff provided ten key elements that comprise quality authentic assessment.  I’d like to focus on a few of these components in depth.

According to the article, one of the key aspects of authentic assessment is to use a rubric.  I completely agree.  By providing students with a rubric, they have an understanding of the expectations that they need to meet.  Furthermore, when they get their assessment back, they will be able to see exactly where they need to improve and where they did very well.  Rubrics have to be designed smartly so that students know exactly what is needed.  In my school, we’ve really focused on developed high-quality rubrics so that our assessments are more valid and stronger.

Another concept found within the article was the idea that teachers have to think backward.  In other words, we have to begin our planning with the summative assessment in mind.  After creating the summative assessment (the main point of the entire unit), teachers can then go through and create formative assessments that can help shape student understanding of the material.  The formative assessment is meant to shape the students’ understanding of the material so that they can do well on the summative assessment, thus showing mastery of the learning targets.

One other interesting idea posited by the article was that students should be given assessments on demand.  After a lesson, for example, on the following day, teachers should ask students to write a response in correlation with what had just been learned.  I often do this and it is effective.  First, I can gauge how well students are learning.  Second, I can understand where students were erroneous in their thinking.  From there, I can re-teach the material so that students can have misunderstandings clarified.

The article also suggested that teachers provide students with the opportunity to assess themselves.  This is very important that teachers provide students with the opportunity to reflect on their own learning.  This will help students learn to reflect so that they will know how they’ve grown and also understand where they need to continue to improve.  Understanding your own strengths and weaknesses is very important in learning, and it is more valuable coming from yourself than from somebody else (i.e. your teacher).

One of the interesting ideas that the Edutopia staff suggested was for teachers to work together and collaborate on material.  I couldn’t agree more.  I am fortunate to work at a school where my colleagues and I are able to work together to create materials that we’re very proud of.  Of course, we are never satisfied and we constantly strive to improve our lessons, plans, and assessments.

As you can see, there are numerous characteristics that are involved in authentic assessment.  We as teachers have the awesome responsibility of creating assessments that will ensure growth within our students.  We have to continue to work hard at creating quality assessments in order to best prepare our students for the demands of the future.

Edutopia Staff.   “Ten Takeaway Tips for Using Authentic Assessment in Your School.”  No Date.  Web.  Edutopia.  7 Aug. 2011.  < http://www.edutopia.org/stw-assessment-ten-lessons-get-started >.

Week 8, Blog 1 - Classroom Groups

The article is from the following site: http://www.edutopia.org/blog/student-grouping-homogeneous-heterogeneous-ben-johnson.

This interesting article explores the issue of grouping students.  He notes that teachers have sometimes grouped the best students with the worst students so that they can lead the others to the promised land of disciplined learning.

With this premise, he maintains that many students can see right through what teachers are doing.  This creates tension, anger, resentment, and even hurt feelings because of trying to eliminate discipline problems. 

The points that he makes are very valid.  At times in years past, I have done this.  What often happens is the same people take the leadership and direct the learning and some people never have a voice. 

His solution was that we need to divide students up in various ways.  Highly motivated learners with highly motivated learners.  Medium with medium.  Low with low.  You can also split them up in various ways.  From there, he noted that you can split kids up based upon their favorite ice cream color, candy, etc.  This would be more random and would create a fun atmosphere as well.  And with technology, I’m sure there’s some programs that can split the kids up completely randomly.

This makes sense; kids will work with others and this will allow for some students to have more of a voice and take on more leadership skills.  Furthermore, the randomness will allow for more respect between the student and the teacher.  No longer will that resentment be there and this will help increase the learning and the motivation.

In my classroom, I often let students pick their own groups.  This works because they can work with their friends and concentrate on accomplishing the task while knowing that they can trust their partners.  Of course, I explain that there are strict expectations and that if they deviate from staying on track, then they will not be working towards mastery of the learning material. 

In sum, varying up the way that you do grouping is the way to go.  This keeps things fresh in the classroom and may help some students become stronger leaders and learners.


Johnson, Ben.  “Student Learning Groups: Homogenous or Heterogeneous?”  2 Aug. 2011.  Web.  Edutopia.org.  7 Aug. 2011.  <http://www.edutopia.org/blog/student-grouping-homogeneous-heterogeneous-ben-johnson>.

Week 7, Blog 3 - Classroom Design

The article is from the following site: http://www.edutopia.org/what-they-see-what-we-get.

This article is about the ways that we can better design our classrooms so that our students can get the best education possible.  The belief that uniformity in lighting and color choice was debunked by Fielding.  He maintained that it was critical to have a some different lights, with the brightest in the center.  Furthermore, he argued that it was important to have windows for children.  He pointed out that some people believe that the windows would cause distraction.  However, he argued that it was vital that students had a connection to the outside world.  The windows offer that opportunity.

He also pointed out that it was important that colors found in nature and human tones are the best kinds of colors to be used in the classroom as well.  Those are the colors that are best for young children and they help them feel more at ease as well. 

What is interesting about this article is that we have to pay close attention to how we design our classroom.  Every small nuance within the classroom can positively or negatively impact the children.  Careful selection of colors, posters, desk arrangement, and so on must be planned by the teacher in order for the students to get the best education possible.

We must take this one step further.  When designing the online classroom, we have to be smart in our selection of colors.  We have to make sure that the sites we create (whether blogs, wikis, or so on) are inviting to the students and make use of a warm color palette.  If we do this, then student learning in the online community will be enhanced as well.

This was an interesting article as it made me think about the tiniest details of my classroom.  We must always remember that the smallest of things make the biggest of differences in the education of people.

Fielding, Randall. “What They See Is What We Get: A Primer on Light.”  1 March 2006.  Web.  Edutopia.org. 31 July 2011.  < http://www.edutopia.org/what-they-see-what-we-get >.

Week 7, Blog 2 - Turnarounds

The article is from the following site: http://www.edutopia.org/blog/turnarounds-schools-next-generation-obrien-anne.

With school turnarounds being one of the latest buzz words in education, OBrien blogs about a very interesting alternative to what the government has offered in regards to school turnarounds.  Noting that the four alternatives that the government offers for turnarounds – which, by the way, have yet to be proven to actually work – neglect to tap the teachers and principals for their energy, OBrien posits that there needs to be another option.  One of the reasons is that an elementary rural school in northwestern Michigan is much different from an inner city Miami high school which is quite different from a Seattle suburb middle school.

Instead of getting rid of all of the teachers and administrators (which is found in many of the turnaround options), OBrien believes that going with the SLI (Strategic Learning Initiatives) model is the one that schools should go with.  One of the reasons is because it involves teacher buy-in to the program.  Teachers have the opportunity to look at SLI model and then they vote on whether they want to go with the model.  If enough (80%) of the teachers vote on the model, then the school will adopt the model and begin the training of the staff.

SLI not only trains the staff, but it also trains the parents.  By teaching the parents what the state benchmarks and standards are, they are involving the parents directly within their student’s education.  I believe that this is a crucial element to why this SLI program is so successful.  You have to have parents involved in their children’s education.  If they know what is expected of their child, then they can help their child progress toward mastery of the learning targets.  I think that this is a major reason why this model is so successful.

Another reason why it is successful is because it focuses on student outcome based on weekly assessments.  Based on assessment results, teachers can figure out what is working and what is not working.  They can also understand how to better teach each individual child so that maximum learning can happen for all of the children.

This form of school turnaround sounds much better for the parents, teachers, schools, administrators, and community.  It focuses on everything that is involved in education: the student, the parents, the teachers, and the administrators.  Instead of being top-down, it is student and teacher driven.  This should be a model that the government looks at instead of the threatening turnaround ideas that currently exist.

Obrien, Anne.   “The Next Generation of School Turnarounds.”  25 July 2011.  Web.  Edutopia.  31 July 2011.  < http://www.edutopia.org/blog/turnarounds-schools-next-generation-obrien-anne >.

Week 7, Blog 1 - Online Collaboration

The article is from the following link:  http://www.edutopia.org/blog/social-studies-collective-ron-peck-sschat.

This article was awesome.  Ron Peck discusses how sometimes, it is very difficult to collaborate with fellow teachers in your own building.  With the advent of the Internet, now, teachers can collaborate with hundreds – if not thousands – of fellow likeminded teachers.  Although I have a great relationship with my fellow colleagues and am fortunate enough to be able to collaborate with them effectively, this article still provides ideas that can help me and my colleagues.

Peck points out that there are different websites that teachers can access that provide instant collaboration opportunities.  These include a Twitter page, a Wiki page, and a Ning site.  All of them provide teachers with Web 2.0 tools that will help them learn from others while also sharing ideas.

This article further illuminates how the Internet is changing the game of education.  As teachers, we have to look at Web 2.0 technology as a way to not only help our students become more engaged, but as a way to help ourselves become more engaged and in tune with what other teachers are doing.

By taking advantage of this technology, we have the opportunity to stand on the shoulders of giants.  We can take ideas, adjust them as needed, and then produce high-quality, rigorous learning opportunities for our students. 

These sites are awesome to check out and I look forward to accessing them as time allows.


Peck, Ron.  “Summer PD: New Social Studies Collective Enable the Synergy and Power of Collaboration.”  27 July 2011.  Web.  Edutopia.org.  31 July 2011.  <http://www.edutopia.org/blog/social-studies-collective-ron-peck-sschat>.

Week 6, Blog 3: The Arab Spring and Technology

Week 6; Blog 3 – The Arab Spring and Technology

The article is from the following site: http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/the_arab_spring_a_status_report_on_morocco_yemen_a.php#more

Curt Hopkins’ article is very interesting, particularly because I’m a World History teacher.  In this article, he explores how technology impacted the Arab Spring in two countries: Morocco and Yemen. 

In Morocco, the government would try to act as if demonstrators had called off demonstrations.  The technology (blog posts particularly) helped to negate these claims.  The actual organizers would be able to send out information via the web (using Web 2.0 technology) so that people knew that demonstrations against the government were actually happening.  This allowed the people to have a voice.  If the technology hadn’t been in use, then the protests would not have happened and the people would not have had a voice.  It’s amazing how this technology has given people a voice that they never had before. 

In Yemen – a country that has high illiteracy and poverty – technology still played a role in helping the people form a voice against their government.  A Yemeni living in Sweden created a portal for Yemenis to use to let people know about demonstrations, etc.  Internet connectivity is very low in Yemen, yet wireless access using mobiles is somewhat prevalent.  This allowed people to communicate in real time and have access to the knowledge of these demonstrations.  Again, people found a voice.

As teachers, we must show students how Facebook, blogging, and other Web 2.0 tools are being used by others around the world.  The revolution of Facebook and Twitter and other sites such as these has given people a voice that has really been unprecedented in this world.  Then, we must ask students what would it be like had those technologies not been around.  It’s a very fascinating and intriguing topic to think about.

Hopkins, Curt. “The Arab Spring: A Status Report on Morocco and Yemen.”  20 July 2011.  Web.  ReadWriteWeb.  24 July 2011.  <http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/the_arab_spring_a_status_report_on_morocco_yemen_a.php#more>.