CTE New Teacher Institute Forum: Who's Fault is it?

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FINAL BLOG POST - OUR "DAILY TRIPLE" (DUE 12/1).

This week I would like you to use your imagination. You have just won the lottery and will leave your teaching post immediately to travel around the world. As you leave your keys you meet your replacement. You are asked to give this new teacher just ONE piece of advice. What would that be, and why? Enjoy your world expedition!

Blog Post - Week 7

This past week in my own teaching I felt a little disconnected which prompts my question to you, "What was the moment (or moments) when I felt most disconnected or disengaged as a teacher - the moment(s) I said to myself, I'm just going through the motions here?"

Fall Semester 2016 Blog Post - Week 6

For the past couple of weeks you have experienced asynchronous online learning (doing modules by yourself). Previously this semester you have experienced synchronous online learning (all together in the Collaborate room). Which do you think is more effective and why do you think that? Which do you like better, and why?

Fall Semester 2016 Blog Post - Week 5

This week we have what we call "open mic." You can write a post about anything related to your teaching that you would like responses from your classmates.

Fall Semester 2016 Blog Post - Week 4

Here is this week's question: "What was the event that most took me surprise this week - and event that shook me up, caught me off guard, gave me a jolt, or made me unexpectedly happy?"

Fall Semester 2016 Blog Post - Week 3

Please write a post about the following question, "In thinking about my past week teaching what is one thing I would do differently, and why?"

Fall Semester 2016 Blog Post - Week 2

Please write a post about the following question, " In thinking about my teaching activities this past week, of what do I feel most proud? Why?"

Fall Semester 2016 Blog Post - Week 1

Describe something you used in your program in the first weeks of school that you learned in the summer NTI program. How did it work? Did it get you off to a stronger start than last year?

Monday, April 14, 2014

Who's Fault is it?

I would say that overall I feel pretty confident that the material on my tests is covered in class, and as a whole we review for tests. I do not believe in trick questions, relying on the students to “just figuring it out”, or hanging my kids out to dry. There are a lot of factors that would have to play in to my response to the parent such as: the student’s effort on other assignments in my class, the student’s attendance record (which I never had a problem with before this semester), the student’s overall grade, and their note-taking during lessons. If all of those factors were in favor of the student, then maybe I would have to step back and re-evaluate my tests. I can also add, that in school I feel that I was always a good student when it came to classwork, homework, and projects, but I really struggled as a test taker. Maybe we could look into a possible pull out group for the student, or we could break the test down into sections so it wouldn’t be so overwhelming. So after all my rambling, I guess I would say my simple answer is that initially I would not put all the blame on my tests, but after ruling out other factors, I would consider re-writing my tests (which this unit is teaching me I already need to do).

1 comment:

Unknown said...: You make a good point Taylor. I didn’t even think about absences in class in regards to testing. I have taken that into consideration with my students class work though. I recently had a student miss nearly three weeks of class because his father has cancer and they had to travel to some cancer treatment center out of the state to get him treatments. When he came back we re-evaluated his progress in my class and I modified his work load. This is a student that had straight A’s before this trip and by the time he got back he had a low C. Since then he has risen his grade back up to an A.

I really believe the same way you do Taylor about not having trick questions or hanging my students out to dry. The day before we usually have a review depending on their workload, however, the study guide links I give them to help them succeed, plus reiterating that they may or may not see something on a test is the norm in my classroom setting.

So yes, in the end, if all the other factors are found to be good and the student still has a bad test, I would have to review my test-writing capabilities for sure. This course right now, I believe will help me be more successful in that endeavor.

Mr. H; April 14, 2014 at 5:36:00 PM EDT