In Chapter 9 of Christine E. Sleeter’s book, the author argues that while teachers face constraints of the standards movement, they also have varying degrees of agency to construct multicultural curriculum. Are there any standards-based tests for students in your school? How do you satisfy individual learning needs of students with diverse language and cultural backgrounds while preparing them for the standards-based tests they have to take? Please give specific examples from your teaching experience. If you do not teach, could you provide some examples from our readings or class discussions?
posted by Fangni Zhang at 9:59 PM
5 Comments:
Currently I am working part-time at a public school in Harlem. The second grade students are beginning to prepare for the exams that they will take in June. I actually attended a Literacy planning meeting last week to discuss the strategies that will be used to help the students review for the exams. First it should be noted that the school is an empowerment school. During our planning, it was decided that the focus of the reviews would be in math, listening, and reading comprehension. The teachers decided to have students practice listening skills through read alouds in the morning and during word study writing about how the character changed from the beginning to the end of the story. Math skills would be reviewed during math time and since I only work with literacy, I am not sure of the strategies that will be used. Reading comprehension will be practiced during readers workshop. During this time students will read a paragraph and answer multiple choice questions based on what they read.
The school I taught at previously was a private institution, therefore, students did not take mandated exams. The school used portfolio assessments and also periodic subject assessments to demonstrate the student's proficiency with the content. The assessments were all relevant to the curriculum that was implemented in the school. Students had a number of experiences with the content before it was tested. Because the exams were not mandated by the government and a failing grade would not determine grade retension, I feel there was less pressure on the students. Furthermore, nearly all the students passed the exams.
I'm working in a fourth grade classroom, where the curriculum seems to be driven by standardized tests. I have had huge objections to the way we're required to teach the students, and how little room exists for multicultural instruction. I don't feel as though my student's needs are being met, and I feel in many ways my hands are being tied and I'm not permitted to do what I feel would be best for them. It's hard to believe the students are forced to meet the same standards throughout the entire state when the lives they lives are so extremely different. In many parts, bilingual education courses have furthered opened my eyes to this point. My students, who are all ELLs, have been here for over a year, are being taught in English, and being tested in English. According to the state, they are proficient in English. All of our text books teach us that this is harmful to the students and that they are not cognitive in a second early this quickly. I have tried my best to provide the students with the extra help they need, but that is only during lunch and after school, when I volunteer my own time.
I apologize, apparently someone else has been on my computer and I posted with a different name. The previous post was actually from Regina Lorentz.
I am working at dual language charter school in the South Bronx. My school is in its second year. If the children are not passing standardized tests by the 5th year of the charter, it will close down. Hence testing is very crucial at my school and it starts in kindergarten.
Although the teachers are following the curriculum devised to teach to the test, I have observed teachers incorporate the students’ interest into the subject matter. Since I work with small groups in the morning in a second grade classroom, I have observed the teacher implement her social studies curriculum during literacy block. This teacher did not focus on African American History Month in only February but extended it through April. Although she has moved on to teaching about pioneers and the trail of tears, she relates the struggle of the Native American to the struggles of African Americans. There are certain facts the students most know for the standardized tests and these facts were taught. However the teacher told them why them most know these facts. She made it very clear that she wanted them to understand the struggles of their ancestors so that they can be educated and make a difference in the future. They are 7 and 8 year olds already dreaming of college. I think she has done an excellent job teaching to the test meanwhile teaching to her student population.
I am working as a student teacher in a six grade of mostly english language learners and it seems that they are constatnly being tested. One would think this was mantaining the idea of constant assessment but I do not believe so. How can you test children using a standard that is designed without taking into account that they are english language learners. They are marked as being below standard when in reality they are still developing thier langauge skills and cannot be expected to test the same as a child who has english as thier first language. Until this is changed state tests do not help me as a teacher or my students.
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