Adults take the PSSA's

Posted from Kristin Hokanson:

What happens when educated professionals take the 11th grade PSSA's? The results here and some thoughts as I read these as well as the comments on Kristin's page:

• An engineer performs below basic. He does not see the relevance in the tasks students are asked to do. Math in high school does not mirror math in real life.
• I am sure I would perform below basic as well. It is not a measure of what I can do.
• It is a poor measure at best, we still keep doing it, legislators do not understand what we are measuring or what the data shows (it is just political...let's call it what it is)
• You run the risk of turning kids off by labeling them. Actually, we turn them off in middle school by disconnecting knowledge with what it is for. Does it have to be this painful to be educated or can we change this? A post I deleted in the edit phase calls for a change in structure. Really society is stratified and schools prepare us for this with the same stratification system. Why can't we talk about this?
  

This is just so much about all of life right now and not just are "schools failing kids?"

I continue to believe how important it is for us to devise organizations that are focused on responsibility rather than accountability. Accountability infers rules. Responsibility infers caring. Dean Shareski

Rob Jacob's post on reconsider your reality is not a new story. It is not rocket science. Barry Schwartz TED talk is not spectacular in the delivery but it is brilliant. It is on practical wisdom and the way society has gone mad with bureaucracy.

Exactly.

Dig deep or go wide?

From the ASCD Smartbrief comes this article about benefiting from depth vs. breadth in science ed. Very interesting as our district is looking at dismal science results from last year's PSSA's, a president that wants more students to succeed in college, and focus on 21st century skills that focuses on working deeply with content. Which is more important?

From the article, these tidbits:

The 8,310 students in the study were enrolled in introductory biology, chemistry or physics in randomly selected four-year colleges and universities. Those who spent one month or more studying one major topic in-depth in high school earned higher grades in college science than their peers who studied more topics in the same period of time.

...and...

The study also points out that standardized testing, which seeks to measure overall knowledge in an entire discipline, may not capture a student's high level of mastery in a few key science topics. Teachers who "teach to the test" may not be optimizing their students' chance of success in college science courses, Tai noted.

When you don't know exactly what is on the test, you have to teach everything. It is not the best way to teach. Working deeply with key integrated concepts is much more important.

Public opinion needs to decide what is most important (educating children and creating success for their future as well as ability to navigate in the world). Should we worry about creating "scientists." Perhaps, but on focusing on content, they will hate it. What is the best way to do this? Why not tap into innate curiosity, focus on the process, and work deeply with content?

The PSSA tests are not going to be an indicator of who will do well in college nor is it an indicator of what they really understand. Every year, more is added to the plate. Is it time to get back to the basics? (concepts and process, that is)

Tags: ASCD, Science Daily, science education

Capture, share, open...

From the "I need to remember this" files (as in I jotted this down on my desk calendar and since it is time for a new month to show, it needs to be written down):

• Capture everything
• Share everything
• Open everything

The connection is what matters.

We know this. But we get mired in trying to get through the material that is expected, appease everyone, make a change we can make vs. the change we want to make, juggle three classes of inquiry/pbl in an atmosphere that does not always see the gains if this is done the way it should be. I still have a goal, it just seems to be taking longer to get there...

Maybe I am not there yet either...

Picture credit: From flickr user jimpg2

Being wise

“The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook.” William James

This short article flitted through my reader some time ago (sorry, if you wrote about it, please let me know and I will credit you.)

At this time of year when everyone is tired of school (and winter), it is best to remember the core ideas in this nice article.

Picture credit: flickr user Thomas Hawk

Managing online communities

Between facebook, twitter, email, nings, other distractions, and the work load many of us carry, how do you maintain them all? For me, I try to get to nings, but never seem to have the time. I also want to learn how to get around in SL. Which communities are the most important to you and how do you balance with the most important community of all (your family?)

Just a musing for today...

Managing online communities

Between facebook, twitter, email, nings, other distractions, and the work load many of us carry, how do you maintain them all? For me, I try to get to nings, but never seem to have the time. I also want to learn how to get around in SL. Which communities are the most important to you and how do you balance with the most important community of all (your family?)

Just a musing for today...

Managing online communities

Between facebook, twitter, email, nings, other distractions, and the work load many of us carry, how do you maintain them all? For me, I try to get to nings, but never seem to have the time. I also want to learn how to get around in SL. Which communities are the most important to you and how do you balance with the most important community of all (your family?)

Just a musing for today...

Incompetence, again

From another wonderful article, these quotes jump out:

• ...most incompetent people do not know that they are incompetent.
• The findings, the psychologists said, support Thomas Jefferson's assertion that "he who knows best knows how little he knows."
• ...the skills required for competence often are the same skills necessary to recognize competence.
• the most able subjects .... were likely to underestimate their own competence.

Wow. Like the author, it makes one wonder if we are one of the incompetents. Thinking about students and how they react to their performance on academic tests, drivers license test, and other skills, I have always thought it was more like ego. But maybe it is what the authors address in the article. They generally argue what was wrong with the test, the material, the situation...

I think we have all had a time where we thought we were good at something. Does that necessarily mean we are incompetent? I don't think so. Once we are aware, we seek information for learning. I think some people are aware of their shortcomings and undervalue their competence. Is this really an all or none idea? Do we either fit into one end (incompetent) of the spectrum or the other (competent)? Is is possible to slide along this spectrum but rest mostly in one end?

Picture credit: flickr user sheeshoo

What type am I?

Analyzing my blog type like others (thanks to Vicki Davis,), I decided to not just analyze this blog, but the others that I have too. Will they all be the same or do I have different personalities for my different blogs?

This blog:

My Scrapaholix blog and my personal blog (this is for a scrapbooking business that I have. Even though it is all about education as well, I obviously write differently:
Finally, the PASD tech blog gives the following result:
So, what does this mean? I do write differently for a different audience in each of these blogs. Different tasks or reasons for the blog require different styles of writings. Am I extending myself in trying to write differently? Even though I find writing some of them difficult, can I still be part of that personality trait? I am more comfortable in this blog at this time. Is this my dominant type (with underlying currents of the others?) Are we being analyzed by what we write as well as our web presence? If this is the semantic web, will we be analyzed by all that we do or just one part?