I, like many others, feel that students are tested way too much. I understand that assessment is very important in an educational setting; however, I think it's done "over the top". Students have so many demands and stress placed upon them. In Daniels' and Bizar's Teaching The Best Practice Way, they go over many types of assessment tools. Anecdotal records is something that I would like to become better at next year. I'd like to keep track of the students' progress better in written documents. I often take mental observations but I need to actually put my thoughts down on paper.
As far as my group's integrated unit goes, we are doing observations throughout the week and rubrics for certain tasks that the students have to complete. The observations are a good way to make sure that students are focused on their tasks and the rubrics provide clear guidelines for the students to follow. The rubrics are being used so students will clearly know what they are being graded on.
I felt as if Daniels and Bizar were really miffed because of the testing situation. Some of their language was quite vivid, especially when they stated, "to this day, we screen, track, reward, and segregate people (children and adults alike) using tests rooted in bad science and redolent of bigotry(p223).I felt like they kind of ranted on for about 4 pages before they finally moved on. I'm not saying that they didn't not have some valid points, but it surprised me to see them speaking out about the information in such a raw and unedited manner. They were certainly not interested in being politically correct in this section of the book!
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