Week Two Reading

From what I understood of the article, the argument is against standardized testing. The article claims that standardized testing changes the nature of teaching, narrows the curricula, and limits student learning. The article also makes statements such as "a result of spending more time on institutional tasks like these, teachers have less time for instruction in their own classrooms" and "standardized tests limit student learning because they focus only on cognitive dimensions, ignoring many other qualities that are essential to student success." I couldn't agree more with these statements. As a Kindergarten teacher, I do not have to deal with standardized testing, but I do have several test that I must give throughout the year such as benchmarks, beginning of year and end of year placements, acuity, and we use to do Kindergarten Inventories as well which were four times a year which have to be done in a one on one setting. Who has the time for all these tests and to provide valuable instruction to our youth? I may only have ten students, but there is also only one of me. It can take a whole week away of valuable instruction to test all of my students. As I student taught in a 5th/6th grade setting, half of my student teaching experience was prepping students on standardized test type questions. Teachers often use these questions as bell ringers throughout the year, but then really drill the students on these type of questions before standardized test time. What is the point in this? Oh yeah, as the article states "they are often used for high-stakes purposes such as determining which students will pass or graduate, which teachers are fired or given raises, and which schools are reorganized or given more funding." My teaching career depends on how well my students score on these tests. My students could learn so much from my teaching, but if they don't learn what the test wants them to learn then they are considered a "not proficient". I know as a high school student, we knew those tests did not affect our grades so do you think we gave it our bests? No. (Well besides me because I guess you could say I cared about school hence why my career path was education.) This means that our teaching careers depend on teenagers who know their scores aren't affecting them and that the information on these tests really don't apply to real world knowledge. The article even states that the curriculum can become narrowed due to teaching the skills that will be on these "high stakes tests". This even means cutting out music, P.E., library, or art which are all (in my opinion) needed within the educational day. Students need that break to express themselves in other ways. For some students, these classes could become career paths for them and we shouldn't rob them of their passions. The article even states that social studies is often cut because the standardized tests do not always test on that subject.

As for reading specialist, I cannot exactly speak on their behalf because I am not one although I am obviously in the program, I have not had experience myself in this position. I believe that they are required to teach students the skills that are necessary in order to score high on these types of tests. They make sure that they know all the tips and tricks for reading comprehension and writing the perfect essay that will be what the administrators of the tests want to see. This takes away from the students being able to express themselves through writing because they are too worried about saying the right word or adding the correct number of adjectives.

Although I do feel this way about standardized testing, I will say that even though I think this type of testing seems pointless it can have some advantages. I did learn to write a five paragraph essay because of the writing portion of the tests and while student teaching, I know the students I taught learned their prepositions and how to use them. They also learned to use "juicy" words which were adjectives that would add more detail and make your story more interesting. I won't say that the students are not learning anything while preparing for these tests, but I know that the "drill and kill" of the standardized testing can take away from great learning experiences.

Reading Survey

As I looked over the surveys, I decided that the Elementary Reading Attitude Survey was the best option to use with my Kindergarten students. I used it in a small group of struggling readers during our station time. We will call these students Boy 1, Boy 2, and Girl. Boy 1 and Girl completed this survey at the same station with folders between them so that they would not copy each others' responses. I assured them that this was not a test and that I just wanted to see how they felt about reading. I told them that I would read questions to them and they were to circle how they feel using the Garfield chart. I explained and reexplained the Garfield pictures throughout the survey. Boy 1 and Girl enjoyed taking the survey, and Boy 1 even said that this was "the best station ever." Boy 2 completed this survey by himself and was a bit bored by the survey. Halfway through the survey, he said "how long is this thing?"

The results of the three students test were about the same. I had a hard time understanding how to determine the results of the test so I determined them the best I could. I added  up the scores for recreational reading, academic reading, and then the total score all together and then found the average score for each area. I used those scores to see where the students' attitudes fell on the Garfield scale.

Boy 1's recreational reading score was a 2.7 which falls between slight dislike and slightly happy. It leans more towards slightly happy with recreational reading. His academic reading score was a 2.9 which fell on the same scale. His overall score was a 2.8 which again fell on the same part of the scale. While completing the survey with him, I noticed that the questions that he labeled as unhappy or slight unhappiness were questions on reading instead of playing, reading during summer vacation, reading during free time, and receiving a book as a present. From listening to comments in class, I know he often likes to play video games and during stations, he loves the computer station. While he is at the reading station, he often gets distracted by watching the other students while they are at the computer station.

Girl's recreational reading score was a 2.8 which falls leaning more toward slightly happy. Her academic reading score was a 3.1 which falls between slightly happy and happiest. Overall her total score was a 2.95 which falls closer to slightly happy. While completing the survey with Girl, she labeled questions about reading for fun at home, reading on the weekend, and reading instead of playing with slight unhappiness or complete unhappiness. She does enjoy reading during free time at school, reading a new book, starting new books, and receiving books as gifts. From comments in class, I can tell that she sometimes gets frustrated when reading words she doesn't know, but does like to look at books with friends during free time.

Boy 2's recreational reading score was a 2.0 which shows that he slightly does not like to read for fun. His academic reading score was a 3.2 which shows that he is slightly happy about reading academically. The total scale score was a 2.6 which means that he falls between slight unhappiness and slight happiness. This means that he is indifferent overall about reading. For almost all the questions in the recreational category, he circled the slight unhappiness Garfield. For the academic category, he seemed to like to read in class, enjoy the stories that we read in class, be asked questions about the stories, and learn new things from the stories we read. From comments in class, I believe that his overall score of indifferent serves correct. He doesn't seem to care either way when it comes to reading. He does often answer questions during reading time, but doesn't get overly excited or overly upset about reading in or outside of school.

Week One Reading Response

1.     1.  The quote I chose on the Common Core Standards is “A survey conducted by the Center for Education  Policy found that of the 38 states responding, the majority felt the CCSS are more rigorous than their previous standards and will require substantial changes in curriculum and instruction. These states are in the process of aligning curriculum, conducting professional development for teachers, and informing stakeholders. Nearly all states indicated concern about having sufficient financial and technological resources for implementation.” I am only a first year Kindergarten teacher so I have not had much experience with Common Core and have not seen a problem with it like many have, but I do agree that it is much more rigorous; however, that does not mean it is a bad thing. We implemented the Early Learning Recording System this year which was at first a real pain. I teamed up with the other Kindergarten teachers for hours going over data for these reports cards. In the end, it may have taken hours, but I felt as if I had a better understanding of what skills my students did and did not have at the time.

The only reason I chose this quote was because I can understand the concern of lack of finances and technological resources. I am the third Kindergarten teacher at my school who received the job two weeks before school started. I did not have many resources coming into the job nor finances to buy any so I have dealt with what I have. For the first three months, I had to share teacher’s manuals with the other teachers because they did not have any for me at the time. Our school lacks technological resources in general so we do what we can. We are expected to use Common Core Standards, but our teacher’s manuals and other resources do not teach to those standards yet. It can be frustrating at times, but the bright side of being a new teacher is that we can start fresh and not have a huge shift in our teaching ways. We can adapt better to these standards than those who had been teaching the same way for years. I think this change will be good in some ways, but there are always problems with a new system at first.

1.     2.  “The Myths and Facts section of the CCSS asserts that “The best understanding of what works in the classroom comes from the teachers who are in them.” This is the quote I chose because I believe it to be true. Teachers spend about 40 hours a week with the students in their classrooms. I take time to talk with my students and hear their interests. I work one on one with them daily to assess skills and work on skills that they may need the extra help with. I feel as if I know my students pretty well. Not all instruction will work for every classroom or every student the same way. This is why I believe that teachers know what works best for their students. I believe between the parents and the teachers they can decide on the concept of censorship within the classroom. Each class is different so certain books or concept may need to be avoided or not avoided. As far as censorship and banned book/websites, it can be a real damper when you want to show the students a great video clip and it is blocked because someone decided to use a swear word in a comment on the video. I understand we are trying to keep the students safe from all the dangers of the world, but sometimes it is just too far. I think 12^th graders can make up their own minds if they are allowed to read the word “rape” in a book or not. These censorships can ruin it for those who choose to read the book over those who oppose of it. I agree that it censors students’ right to think for themselves and express themselves through their interests.

1.      3. “Both the qualitative dimensions and the reader-text variables depend upon the professional judgment of teachers, especially the reader-text variables, because only teachers know students well enough to help them find the best text for the purpose at hand, something “leveling” systems cannot do.” I wish this statement would have included “because only teachers and parent know students well enough to help them….” because although sometimes parents do not know what they are talking about when it comes to education, other times they can be a big help so I would have included them within that statement as well. I do agree that when it comes to reading, I have struggled with the “leveled” reading groups. I have heard that they are both helpful and harmful. When I do my leveled reading groups, I always read a book with my lower group that I know they will be able to read first. The second day I will introduce them to the other books so that they become familiar with the words. If they aren’t exposed to the words, then how are they supposed to learn them? The best approach that I always use when reading, or with an instruction, is to relate what we are learning to what the students are interested in or their previous knowledge.  “When teachers have identified students who struggle to remain engaged as they read complex texts, they can assess students’ interests in order to provide texts that are more likely to foster student engagement.” Over the past few months as a first year teacher, I have made up more silly songs and sayings to help my students with reading and learning that I can count. The thing is that they love it! Not only do they love it, but they remember it! This is one strategy that has worked well for me.

A Peek into the Life of Me

Over my years at Fairmont State University, I've had to participate in quite a few blogs or discussion posts so I'm starting to warm up to the idea of sharing my thoughts. I'll start by introducing myself; my name is Megan Stivason. I graduated from Fairmont State University with my Bachelor's in Elementary Education in Spring 2013. I am now in my fourth semester in the Reading Education Program. I currently teach Kindergarten at Fairview Elementary with an unusually small class of ten wonderful students. I couldn't have asked for a better first teaching job. This small class size has given me the opportunity to work one on one with my students and really cater to their learning needs. On top of work and class, I am planning our wedding for this August. It has been a 4 year engagement and has given me the opportunity to really enjoy the planning process. We are now into the final details and I'm loving every minute of it!

When thinking of a book that I read as a child, I always think of Tuck Everlasting. I can remember picking out the book to read for a book report and really enjoying it. I can't remember the exact grade that I was in, but it was around the time when DVD players were first coming out. I remember buying a DVD/VCR player with my birthday money for my room. I also bought Tucker Everlasting as my first DVD. I was so excited to go home and watch this movie! I can remember imagining what the scenes would look like in my head while reading the book. With great disappointment, the movie did not hold up to my expectations. I remember being so sad that I even wasted my time watching the movie. That is when I realized that reading the books can be so much more enjoyable than watching the movies because you can use your imagination when reading the books. I wish I could say that since that day I decided to read the books and not just watch the movies, but sadly, I just cannot find the time to sit down and read a good book. I can say that I never did watch Tuck Everlasting again.

Besides taking this course to pursue my Master's Degree in Reading Education, I want to learn strategies that would help my young readers become more fluent in reading and maybe even enjoy reading. There are certain concepts in reading that I haven't quite realized how to teach in a number of different ways that would help reach all different types of learners so I would also like to learn more about those as well.

I hope you found at least a little bit of that interesting! I look forward to chatting with you all over the course of this semester!