Reflection
This video truly made me reflect on my teaching practice and myself personally. I was never the type of student that performed well on tests. Even on my teacher entrance exams such as the C-Sets and RICA, I failed them miserably the first few times I took those test so I understand how students feel when they're asked to simply regurgitate facts and base their answers on what they think teachers want to hear. I truly believe it's time to drop power and allow students to be themselves. To highlight their unique strengths instead of highlighting what they did wrong on their tests.
Standardized Testing = Standardized Students
Such a powerful statement, "standardized tests = standardized students" and it's exactly what we're creating under the old traditional format. I still believe their should be testing because testing is till part of the real world. People get tested before they're hard in many jobs, they want to measure competence so it's still an important skill. Even though I failed my teacher entrance exams initially, they taught me how to persevere and not give up. To study harder and focus with the up most discipline. It taught me sacrifice and decision making. However, there needs to be a balance of tinkering, allowing kids to play, the incorporation of 20% passion project, to build, to fail and not just simply taking notes of what the teacher says and students have to regurgitate it for a test. Continuing to focus on literacy remains an urgency, however media literacy should be just as urgent.
Reference
Wesch, Michael. (2011). A Few Ideas ..." (Visions of Students Today) . Retrieved August 3, 2015 from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrXpitAlva0&list=PLbRLdW37G3oMquOaC-HeUIt6CWk-FzaGp&index=11
This video truly made me reflect on my teaching practice and myself personally. I was never the type of student that performed well on tests. Even on my teacher entrance exams such as the C-Sets and RICA, I failed them miserably the first few times I took those test so I understand how students feel when they're asked to simply regurgitate facts and base their answers on what they think teachers want to hear. I truly believe it's time to drop power and allow students to be themselves. To highlight their unique strengths instead of highlighting what they did wrong on their tests.
Standardized Testing = Standardized Students
Such a powerful statement, "standardized tests = standardized students" and it's exactly what we're creating under the old traditional format. I still believe their should be testing because testing is till part of the real world. People get tested before they're hard in many jobs, they want to measure competence so it's still an important skill. Even though I failed my teacher entrance exams initially, they taught me how to persevere and not give up. To study harder and focus with the up most discipline. It taught me sacrifice and decision making. However, there needs to be a balance of tinkering, allowing kids to play, the incorporation of 20% passion project, to build, to fail and not just simply taking notes of what the teacher says and students have to regurgitate it for a test. Continuing to focus on literacy remains an urgency, however media literacy should be just as urgent.
Reference
Wesch, Michael. (2011). A Few Ideas ..." (Visions of Students Today) . Retrieved August 3, 2015 from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrXpitAlva0&list=PLbRLdW37G3oMquOaC-HeUIt6CWk-FzaGp&index=11