EOG; The End of Teaching

From the 3rd grade on, students are given state made tests to prove that the teachers are doing their jobs.  It has very little to do with the students and everything to do with the teachers.  Test like EOGs, EOCs, and even the SATs are designed to test the students on what they learned not how much.  If students do poorly on these tests,then it reflects on the teachers.  This means that to keep their jobs they have to teach for the test!  So instead of students becoming knowledgeable and confident, ready for the harsh reality that is college, they are in the classrooms learning, "If you don't know the answer to something, pick 'C'.  Studies show that must test makers make 'C' the answer".  It's sick and perverse!  We are the slaves to the test, a test that is made up by people who haven't been in a classroom setting for years.  I am yet to use any of the information I learned for a state made test.  I admit that it has been a while, but I don't think I have used anything from the SAT either.  When a teacher was able to create and give their own EOC I learned so much more from the class.  Why are we still using this antiquated method to prove that students are learning?  Each student learns differently and every student shows what they have learned in different ways.  I always did poorly on tests in school.  Then I got into College and was given essay format tests and started getting perfect scores.  It was the multiple choice that messed me up.  Given all those choices I almost always second guessed myself.  There are thousands of children who are just like me or worse and will never make it out of Middle School due to discouraging test grades.  Will the school system ever get there act together and come up with a more equal testing?

Another new ipad....

 http://business-standard.com/india/news/customers-pre-ordering-ipad-3-will-have-to-wait/467430/

 It seems like as soon as they come out with one ipad, you turn around and another one is soon to be released.  Each time they change or upgrade one or two things making it hardly worth it.  Yet hundreds of people are lined up every time for the next ipad or iphone.  I would like to get one myself, but I'm afraid that as soon as I get out of the store with it, it will be out dated.  It is possible that we have too much technology?  That we as a society are obsessed with it?  The world keeps giving us more and we keep eating it up because we are told it is better than before and it will make our lives better. How much difference can a slightly updated product make, and how often are we fooled by what the media tells us?

Living in a 21st Century World

As current and future teachers, there are many issues to face.  One of the main ones is having lesson plans that are multifaceted so that everyone can learn.  Everybody learns differently so it is important to include audio, visual, physical, technical, etc so that everybody has a chance to get involved and learn.  The question that is eating away at me is what do you do with a school that has a low budget and only has a few computers?  I have heard of schools where they have ipads for every student, but not every school is that fortunate.  Even worse, how do you deal with students who have no access to a computer at home?  We would like to believe that all children are privileged and have parents who care for them.  Sadly, this is not always the case.  Are we allowed to give these students special treatment?  To help them with access to technology?  I personally would want all of my students to have every chance they can, but when does it become unfair towards the other students?  The only way that I can think of to make it fair is to offer additional help during my office hours that is available to everyone.  Just for reference, this is based on knowledge from my own personal High School experience.  Our Library offered computers and other materials, but it was never opened for students unless they had permission from their teacher.  We were never allowed in there for our own personal research on anything even if it was for a class.  So maybe that was just my school and students have no problem getting access to technology.  I know that if I didn't have a computer at home, I would never have made it out of High School!