Teacher's Lounge: Is this going to be on the test?
by rserven
www.dailykos.com/storyonly...14157/9984
Posted Sat Sep 08, 2007 at 08:48:20 AM PDT
An educated mind is an opened mind. An opened mind is a liberal mind. Teachers don't have to intend to create liberals, it happens naturally.
s this going to be on the test?
I've been a teacher for 31 years.
Never in any of that time was it not the case that students wanted me to teach to the test. "Is this going to be on the test?" is the single most asked question I have received. If I were to tell the students the material was not on the test, the majority would have tuned out immediately.
There have been the few...a very thin layer indeed...who have actually wanted to learn the material deeply, who asked, "Why?" and weren't content with "Because." as an answer. I have cherished each of those students. They are the reason I have been able to come back to teach every year. It is for them that I refuse to give up.
I still cling to my old ways. While I am in no stretch of anyone's conception what could be called a traditional type person, I trust in the fact that thousands of years of human endeavor have taught us how to teach one another. It is not a new skill. Trying to reinvent it, as has been done in recent years is absurd, to my way of thinking. We might as well pass initiatives to reinvent breathing.
Effort. I succeeded through effort...with a modicum of inspiration. It helped that I had some special gifts. I can't deny that being smart helps. But I succeeded because I was willing to learn what was being taught. That meant I was willing to learn more than was going to be on the test.
I would never have dreamed to utter the words, "If it's not on the test, why are you wasting time teaching it?" It has always made me cringe when those words have oozed out of one of my students. They are the mark of the beast, the neon sign floating above that student which says, "I am not willing to work on this subject unless forced to do so. I am willing to fail."
As my heart sinks, I try to patiently explain to my students that I do not know what is on the exam, if indeed there is going to be one, until a few days before it is given. I explain how it has come to pass that I don't believe it is fair to them for me to know what the questions are going to be beforehand. I tell how it is my job to tell them the story they need to learn in order to be able to pass any test on the material...and that I take this responsibility seriously. I bear my soul. Most of them roll their eyes. I know I am speaking to the few.
To the rest, I beg them not to follow that path, if not for their own sakes, then at least so that they can maybe learn not to pass that attitude on to their children. And at least for the sake of the rest of us, who will have to live with the mistakes they may make at some point in the future because they weren't willing to learn how not to make them.
What makes it so hard to struggle onward is that the question, "If it's not on the test, why are you wasting time teaching it?" If not in those precise words, that has been the interpretation I place on No Child Left Behind and the present higher education initiatives. The difference with now is that the question is coming from On High.
This administration appears not to be filled with knowledge-seekers. When I look at George W. Bush and many of his subordinate mouths, that neon sign is flashing above his head. "I am willing to fail."
Good job, George. You have succeeded.
What is sad is that he has managed to bring the rest of us down with him.
--Robyn Elaine Serven
--Bloomfield College, NJ
by rserven
www.dailykos.com/storyonly...14157/9984
Posted Sat Sep 08, 2007 at 08:48:20 AM PDT
An educated mind is an opened mind. An opened mind is a liberal mind. Teachers don't have to intend to create liberals, it happens naturally.
s this going to be on the test?
I've been a teacher for 31 years.
Never in any of that time was it not the case that students wanted me to teach to the test. "Is this going to be on the test?" is the single most asked question I have received. If I were to tell the students the material was not on the test, the majority would have tuned out immediately.
There have been the few...a very thin layer indeed...who have actually wanted to learn the material deeply, who asked, "Why?" and weren't content with "Because." as an answer. I have cherished each of those students. They are the reason I have been able to come back to teach every year. It is for them that I refuse to give up.
I still cling to my old ways. While I am in no stretch of anyone's conception what could be called a traditional type person, I trust in the fact that thousands of years of human endeavor have taught us how to teach one another. It is not a new skill. Trying to reinvent it, as has been done in recent years is absurd, to my way of thinking. We might as well pass initiatives to reinvent breathing.
Effort. I succeeded through effort...with a modicum of inspiration. It helped that I had some special gifts. I can't deny that being smart helps. But I succeeded because I was willing to learn what was being taught. That meant I was willing to learn more than was going to be on the test.
I would never have dreamed to utter the words, "If it's not on the test, why are you wasting time teaching it?" It has always made me cringe when those words have oozed out of one of my students. They are the mark of the beast, the neon sign floating above that student which says, "I am not willing to work on this subject unless forced to do so. I am willing to fail."
As my heart sinks, I try to patiently explain to my students that I do not know what is on the exam, if indeed there is going to be one, until a few days before it is given. I explain how it has come to pass that I don't believe it is fair to them for me to know what the questions are going to be beforehand. I tell how it is my job to tell them the story they need to learn in order to be able to pass any test on the material...and that I take this responsibility seriously. I bear my soul. Most of them roll their eyes. I know I am speaking to the few.
To the rest, I beg them not to follow that path, if not for their own sakes, then at least so that they can maybe learn not to pass that attitude on to their children. And at least for the sake of the rest of us, who will have to live with the mistakes they may make at some point in the future because they weren't willing to learn how not to make them.
What makes it so hard to struggle onward is that the question, "If it's not on the test, why are you wasting time teaching it?" If not in those precise words, that has been the interpretation I place on No Child Left Behind and the present higher education initiatives. The difference with now is that the question is coming from On High.
This administration appears not to be filled with knowledge-seekers. When I look at George W. Bush and many of his subordinate mouths, that neon sign is flashing above his head. "I am willing to fail."
Good job, George. You have succeeded.
What is sad is that he has managed to bring the rest of us down with him.
--Robyn Elaine Serven
--Bloomfield College, NJ
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