Comments on: Are we over diagnosing our children and leaving behind what we know about teaching?

By: Shelley

Shelley — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 18:16:31 +0000

Have you spent time looking at social curriculum. You can weave that in

By: Maryann

Maryann — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 23:36:25 +0000

I also agree that too much of our time is being spent trying to prepare for all of these tests so we can raise our scores. Although I feel that because we are doing too much of this we are leaving out some of the most important things that we can do as teachers. I believe that we don’t have time for things such as social skills that so many of these students don’t have and are not getting from home, that they will need one day. Not only social skills but also just a a little more love and attention that they are not getting at home. I know that it shouldn’t be our job but if they are not getting it at home we should be doing it in school. Although I find that we don’t have time for this any more and it should be a top priority. It would be great to have high test scores but if they don’t have the social skills it may not matter too much.

By: christine

christine — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 23:15:09 +0000

One of my favorite teachers and I were discussing an impending fight that we’ve been trying to head off between students since Thursday. The administrator who was supposed to be handling it was so cught up in meetings and hearings that she only got to reach ONE of the five involved students. The main ‘victim’ was never spoken to, she has no understanding that anyone is lookng out for her. She’s at her breaking point, and she’s goign to (rightfully) take matters into her own hands. She approached me this morning and told me she was goign to kill the other student. I was able to get her to promise NOT to kill her – before fourth period- so that I could try to intervene.

When I went to the admin, she was still bogged down and sent me to guidance. Guidance didn’t tell us, but we predicted (and the prediciton came true) that guidance wouldn’t handle the issue either because they’re buried in state testing crap.

It’s incredible that there are multiple students being harrassed and threatened and intimidated repeatedly, and no one is doing anything becuase they are all stuck in the middle of ‘administrivia’ (nice term Shekky!). I guess there is more fear in the newspaper reporting noncompliance with state testing than an all out brawl resulting in serious injury.

By: David D

David D — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 22:51:13 +0000

I’m right there with you. How many tests can we really give them before they give up on testing in general. There have been times when my students have had to do MAP (measure of academic progress) testing, unit tests and quarterly tests all within the span of a few weeks. Add to that the little quizzes along the way and it feels like half the time is teaching, with the other half testing and where is the learning actually taking place. On top of that, when we try to spend more time on a particular topic, we may end up having to rush through things at the end of the quarter to prepare for the quarterly assessments. It’s like running a race sometimes.

By: matt dunne

matt dunne — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 21:23:32 +0000

I agree with you, in a diverse situation such as Newburgh there are a number of outside factors that can contribute to poor test scores. We have to pinpoint how to fix these problems in order to increase student achievment. Test score don’t always tell the whole story and should not be how students are grouped.

By: Tim Sullivan

Tim Sullivan — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 00:05:20 +0000

Testing, Testing, One Two Three. Testing, Testing.
There are certainly two many tests but statistics are what drives our educational system. Our numbers must look good for fear of being categorized as a District in need of Improvement. So we must have concrete data to show how much the students know (at least in the short term). Whether they have actually Learned anything is debatable. But as students, teachers, administrators, parents, school board members, and other members of the community see consistent improvements in the numbers that seems to be what is most important.

By: David D

David D — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 23:53:42 +0000

I agree completely. It’s common sense that we as teachers need to understand what our students deal with on a daily basis before we can begin to help them succeed. Tests and other assessments do no real benefit to the student if they are in no condition to be assessed. As a new teacher, I am constantly trying to keep my students on top of their assignments so they can keep their grades up. The problem lies when they are out for extended periods of time, due to who knows what. I know that many of them have issues that reach well beyond what I am capable of helping them with. However, they still need to make the grade. Many times, I feel like they need a break from their homelife and to just relax for a minute. Instead, I wind up dumping a bunch of missed assignments on them and making them feel even more overwhelmed. It’s a tough situation. I don’t want to overwhelm them, but I can’t just make up grades for them either.

By: Louis

Louis — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 23:45:11 +0000

Over-diagnosing? I think I agree with that.
The thing with learning though, is that you have to be at least a little prepared to learn. Or at least have some intent to learn. And that mostly comes from the preparation from home. Now-a-days, kids are coming to school (or maybe they always were) just to socialize. They have things competing for their attention that is difficult to contend with.

If you offer kid a bowl of “skittles” or “chocolates” on on side, then offer them some veggies on the other, most simply do not have the level of maturity to choose wisely. At least until its late in the game.
These kids have too much “stimulus” on their plates and too little sense of obligation and responsibility. It’s hard to build the kind of relationship that Gary Stager indicates with the current interests that these students have.

They almost need “re-training” to be able to create an environment where you can really teach.

By: Lindsay

Lindsay — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 23:41:18 +0000

I agree that we are teachers are just overwhelmed with testing. There is always a quarterly, midterm, or final being thrown at us. The students are also overwhelmed by testing. They are frustrated and stressed out. There is too much information to cover in a short period of time. Many teachers lose their joy of teaching because of testing stresses. Many teachers feel they can not be creative and fun with their lessons because they will not get to all the material. Also many teachers just cover something and move on when the students do not have a true grasp of the concept. I think assessments and evaluations are great but they need to measure more things. Students overall progress should be monitored. They are more than just numbers. I also agree that if teachers take the time to know their students and care, their students will perform better in class. If students feel like someone cares, they are more eager to plase. They will enjoy class and want to come see the teacher. It really comes down to caring and wanting to help your students at any cost.

By: Julie D

Julie D — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 23:12:29 +0000

In answer to the title question- yes, yes, and definitely yes! So much time is spent not only testing, but preparing for and scoring tests, that valuable class time is lost. Teaching has been called an art and a science. As in anything that deals with human beings, we can’t seperate the formulas and physics from the emotion and creativity. But more and more, teaching is losing its art, students are faring worse, and teachers are leaving the field discouraged and frustrated. I have often thought about the money spent on assessment and thoroughly agree that it would be better spent on making classes smaller. In fact, if I could recommend one single change to education- above resources, testing, technology, or anything else- it would be to make classes much smaller. If we had smaller classes, teachers could individualize their teaching, could spend more time with students, and could even buy some extra supplies with their own budget (since there would be fewer students to purchase for). In the district I work in (as I’m sure is true for most districts), students come with so many needs- physical, emotional, financial, etc. No one I know can learn or even begin to want to learn if they don’t have basic needs met. (It’s the whole Maslow’s hierarchy thing) We’re testing students as if multiple assessments are going to somehow make them perform better. Most teachers can tell you exactly how each student will do on each test. And sadly, most teachers will tell you that there is nothing they can do to change that outcome, since all their time is spent testing! I wonder what would happen if we stoppped all testing for four years, allowed teachers to practice their art and use their intuition, and focused our energy and resources on smaller classes that allowed teachers to really get to know each student and provided time to meet indidvidual needs. At the end of that four years, we could test students, and I guarantee that test scores will have improved. As it is, it’s like finding out that we’re sick, and running ourselves ragged getting test after test, hoping for a better outcome, instead of finding a cure.