Canada Says No to Testing

I catch myself singing a little Beatles every now and then... In particular these first few lines: You say you want a Revolution, Well, you know, We all want to change the world... The song sending the message that was "anti-Revolution" ... So picture it: Testing the revolution, someone's revolution, to Change Education (in the form of the lovely No Child Left Behind).

Check out what teachers in Canada are doing... (Thanks Ms. Flecha for posting a link to the blog you found this on) I was just contemplating a boycott on testing tonight with another teacher (one of those "what if" scenarios... anything to find a way out of the testing hell we teach in these days)... when I came home to an updated post about it on another teacher's blog.

I often wonder... If we see testing is ruining the chances for our students, why do we continue to test them? What would happen if we said No? Unfortunately, we're all stuck. We either test or be stuck without jobs in hard economic times... and the thought of not spending my time educating young minds... what would I do?

It'll be interesting how this plays out come February. Not sure what the best answers are, but from what I've seen in a school where real teaching and learning seems to have slipped out the door and constant test-prep has taken over, I cannot help but feel this testing thing is taking away the learning. Ms. Bond, sure it's important that teachers do their jobs... But at the end of the day, the most important thing is that the students have learned. I have to say, I've spent many frustrating days feeling I'm not meeting the most important need... at least not to the fullest, because of testing.

*Side note: Lucky B.C. teachers only having to test their students in 4th and 7th grade before they head to high school. What would they do if they came to the U.S. and saw the testing we put our young students through... and even worse, come to NYC and see how many tests we give our kids outside the "required" ones for NCLB. Predictive tests and practice tests... (We are always wishing for a miracle... maybe if we give the test again in two days, the results will magically increase... wishing for fours... fours... fours... Or NOT.)

Building Reading Stamina

On site meter, I've noticed my blog has been linked to through searches for "Building Stamina." When I looked at the post I had written about building stamina, I realized it probably wasn't very helpful for someone who might be looking for some direction (much like I was wishing I had at the time I wrote the original post).

When I wrote the original post, I was in a place of uncertainty. I had have been given a class of students who didn't know how to read for a period of time. It was impossible for my students to even read independently for 5 minutes. I was clueless as to how I would be able to help my students build their reading stamina. I'd always gotten students who could at least hold a book up and read for a period of time. What in the world was I to do with these non-reading 5th graders?

With some guidance fomr other teachers, my team teacher and I made a plan and began building stamina for our student readers. Here's how we did it:

Materials: graph, timer, goals, books, students

1. Make a graph. Each day we marked the time that students could successfully read independently.

2. Set a goal. Think about the end point. What amount of time do you want your students to be able to read independently? How many days in a row do they have to meet that time before they've met the goal? For example, we chose around 20 minutes for 5 days in a row.

3. Get a timer. Set the timer each day before independent reading starts. Start with low times - 5 minutes. Slowly move the times up. If the students had trouble on a certain day, explain that you are either going to stay at the same time the next day or only move it up one minute. Our students would be for a longer time. They took the challenge and wanted to prove they could do the independent reading. Some days I would tell them I would set the timer for X minutes and if they wanted to keep reading after, I'd reset it for 3 more minutes to move us up that much more on the graph. Some days when that timer went off, they just kept reading. There were days when it was more difficult to read independently and some of the students would get off task. I'd simply stop the timer and remind them that it'd be turned back on as soon as I saw them reading towards our goal again.

4. Use reading buddies. Some of the students had a hard time staying focused and started causing disruptions during the reading time. Their low reading levels and lack of motivation as a reader left them apt to distract others. By giving them reading partners, we were able to make them accountable for each other as readers. Most times, they would actually read.

It seems so easy now, but before, when had no idea how to deal with 5th grade non-readers, I was terrified as what I needed to do to get my students to the point of being able to hold up a book and read for a period of time.

How Far I've Come

It has been less than a week since I've been in my classroom, but I feel the memory of the school stress is slipping further from my mind... as I lounge around my house, explore places on the internet I've never had time to even imagine, sleep, sleep some more, sleep more than I should physically need, and most importantly, think about everything, but school.

But today, I started thinking again. I started thinking about myself as a teacher. I started thinking about where I began and where I am now. I actually think about this often, but I don't take the time to really write it down (who knows if I'll get it all down now, I may lose my juice or get distracted on the way.)

In my dreams last night, I visited my old classroom. It's very different now. It's a 4th grade classroom. It seems like there is so much space in it (I've seen pictures). I then started thinking about myself in that classroom. When I first started, I was beyond excited and spent days and nights of the month before school started working in that room to make it PERFECT for my students and myself. It may still be one of my favorite places ever! (Even though I'll never be able to back in that exact place.) I was scared though. I remember getting those 20 kids or so... What was I to do with them? What do I even say to them? What was really going on in my room? Why didn't I know anything? Hadn't I just gotten a degree? Shouldn't I know something? What do I do when they don't do what they are supposed to? How do I make them care?

After starting a summer school class and two years of a regular class, I am starting to feel like I have a clue of what to do. Next year, if I stay at this school, the first day will be a piece of cake (I'll actually know what's going on... which would have happened this year had I stayed in my safe place at my previous school.)

Behavior problems and classroom management may soon be my forte (for sure when I leave this school and area... where the behavior problems aren't as extreme or as popular). I think back to the school I worked in as a summer school teacher. It was the behavior school of the town, all the "problems" went there. Those kids scared me. They probably knew it too. They walked all over me some days. They made me wish I knew what in the world I was doing. They could have eaten me alive, at least that's how I felt... I was terrified by them. I had a few of behaviors in my class last year. Days when the particular few just went beyond what I thought I could deal with. Now. Looking back. Easy. I wish I had those problems! I've gone so far beyond that. I've dealt with so much more... and although, I don't feel 100% successful, my team teacher and I have had a relative amount of success in comparison to Day 1. I feel as if I could go back to a school like my former one, and be able to deal with behavior issues without a sweat.

As a teacher assessing my students, I have grown in ways I didn't even know. I've always been impressed by teachers who can rattle off everything about every student without looking at a thing. They truly Know where their students stand. I knew, from the start, that it was important for me to know my students strengths and weaknesses. Last year, I used testing results, observations, and other forms of assessment... but I still fumbled as I tried to grasp what exactly I was doing, on top of still trying to figure out how to teach. This year, I've been able to take it to a whole new level. One way: Checklists... Galore. (I'm sure my team teacher thinks I'm a bit crazy sometimes.) Unfortunately, I've not developed successful checklists in all subject areas. I'm still a work in progress. At least I'll have all summer to develop and have them ready for the next school year. We've also developed a basic +, check, - system that we use to find Target Students, the ones we will try to get to during our next lesson or any down time. We still have a long way to go in developing our assessment system and our outreach to those kiddos who haven't met the particular standards, but I know I'm much further developed then I was before.

Although I spend plenty days feeling I'm in a hopeless place, I know I can survive this. I know I can grow from this. My goal is another year and a half. Maybe it'll get better. Maybe I can last longer? I do know, that when I leave this place, I'll leave with a confidence I wouldn't have known existed before coming. I'll leave with the knowledge of what schools can be and what schools should be. I'll leave knowing I'm going to a better place, a better school, but I won't forget those kids that are still stuck in the place I leave behind.

The Perfect Gift for Teacher

Today, as we walked our students out, a few of them started mentioning gifts and talking of the holiday party that will be filling our afternoon tomorrow. One boy, who engulfs so much of our energy and focus but makes up for it by constantly making us laugh with his serious, but silly comments, had decided he'd get my team teacher a chocolate chip cupcake.

One teacher down, and on to figure out the perfect gift for me. As we walked down the stairs he stopped and turned around.

"Whatch you want? A lamp?"

Tempting, but instead I agreed a cupcake would make me happy too. Just the thought of this young man carrying a lamp for his teacher through the school was enough to make us giggle all the way back to the room!

I Can't Force Them to Think

My frustration level is a little higher this year, for many reasons. The one I'm going to just mention today, as I've been bringing up in the last few posts, is Reading. Of course, you'd expect that - we are less than 3 weeks of school days away from the Dreaded and Horrible ELA (English Language Arts) test.  

I have such a hard time teaching my students test prep for a few reasons: 

1) Can we CRAM test prep down their throats Anymore? We may officially be going on 4 months now. I mean, how much is too much? In my opinion, we've long passed the line of too much... to the point that I don't recognize the reading teacher I used to be. I take it personally, yet I cannot control what is going on. Test prep is forced upon me. 

2) My students give up before the test prep reading is even handed to them. They already know what answer they are going to choose... without even reading the options (or the story). They have already mastered the fake reading... where they look blankly at the text and then, after a few moments, move on. No matter how many times we model, partner, attempt to hold students accountable with underlining and highlighting and written explanations of why the answer they chose are the best answer... it doesn't follow through into testing. These students are completely capable of finding the most basic answers in the text, but they don't care. It's not important to them. ... And WHO could blame them? 

I'm stuck in a hard spot (sounds familiar). I lack resources, time, and even energy to make the progress we are expected to see. Sadly, how can a student meet the standards on a reading test when they read far below the level expected, and it stems from years of falling behind? How can they be expected to do well on a reading test when they shut down as soon as they see it...? After years and years of having test prep taught as their reading, what more do we expect?When do we see that this has gone too far, that it's ruining any chance to make them readers? 

There are ways for students to get some of the answers correctly without thinking Too much... like using the text. It kills me when I lay it out in front of them, tell them the answer is under their nose, and they refuse to think enough to find the most basic answers. 

I am stuck in a teacher's hell, forcing the one thing on my students that tortures me most. I can't make them happy; I can't make me happy. Most of all, I'm frustrated that the students aren't thinking... and I feel helpless to waking up their minds... I feel out of control with the resources and requirements that have been thrown at me. 

I feel like I'm going to need many glasses of wine (in the evening of course) until this reading test is over. I am definitely counting down the days until I can Really teach reading, real reading. 

Teach Nothing But Reading

I think we have somewhere around 16 days until the ELA (English Language Arts) test for 5th graders across the city. 

In a meeting, we were told that we were allowed to do Whatever it takes (within the legal limit) to get our kids ready for the test. Whatever it takes?! ... Like dropping all instruction except Reading and Writing. OR NOT. I don't care that the test is 16 school days away, I will not stop teaching the other subjects. 

I feel a bit hopeless. I'm working Extremely hard to keep a critical eye on how my students are doing on each and every aspect of reading.... Yet I cannot bring myself to torture them by teaching only reading for the next month of classes. They already show me their lack of effort, and shoving more test prep into their faces isn't going to excite them in any way. 

Even if my students pass the test with a 3 (the desired goal), it doesn't change the fact that they cannot read, that they don't even care about reading. All it proves is that they know how to take a test. 

Just so you know, I am Teaching Reading. I am also teaching Test Prep (which is important despite my complete aversion to the testing that takes place in this city, state, and country). 

I cannot wait for this test to be over. Then the real cramming time will begin. I'll be cramming to spend the rest of the year Actually Teaching reading... No more of these copied one page stories that are as bland cauliflower (if it is bland - so I hear). 

As I began my commute this morning, I tried to recall learning to read when I was going through elementary school. I remember the reading text (and although they are dreaded, I'd much prefer a reading text book to the lame copied stories we get piles of). Yet, I remember reading books (Yes, Real Books) more than I remember any text book. I read... books that I now own in my own classroom library. I loved books. I might have hated taking the quick 10 question quiz after I completed the book, but at least I was reading... More than the students at my school can say, the ones who don't know how to sit down and read a book... Which doesn't surprise me after the first few months of attempting to teach reading at this school. 

Does anyone remember learning to read? Leave a comment. Share your stories.