What do all the above have in common? Innocent victims or willing participants, right? As we enter the high-stakes testing season, be mindful of our youngsters that must undergo these assessments that determine if learning took place for the whole year or semester.
As I blogged before, teaching methods have changed over the decades, but standardized testing has not. Call these tests a necessary evil if you wish. In order to hold teachers accountable these tests are needed to generate data. As you know data is very valuable and has its own language. Data is used for research to improve education.
Continuing to embrace these days of testing anxiety that we all have experienced in the past, we can feel empathetic for all of our furry adolescent testing subjects.
In the back of our minds, we are already aware what may cause the downfall of the BYOT movement. We just don’t want to admit it. The source of what powers technology is “the problem”. Using common sense, we all know that there will be a great demand for charging these devices to last throughout the day. Colleges are already dealing with this issue.
Charging stations will be a vital requirement of power management for teachers in the classroom. While a student’s device is being charged, will the teacher have a backup device to supply in order to maintain the student engagement?
Will schools have to give a limit of devices that can be charged at on time in an outlet? Will there be an increase of fire hazards in schools? I will not even touch the issue of theft of property theft while the electronic devices being charged. These issue cannot be avoided (unless we demand engineers of our electronic devices to create be solar powered versions) for the time has come for students to be empowered with these devices for instruction. As TD Jakes states, “Get ready, get ready, get ready!”
A few years ago after sitting in a staff meeting, all teachers were charged with the expectation for pushing all students to excel in their high stakes exam called the End-of-Grade assessment. I happened to overhear a veteran teacher proclaim what was instructed in the above title of this blog post. IMHO, that statement reflects a great sense of negativity, therefore I feel that this is an unfair statement to say about any student that is capable of demonstrating academic excellence.
May is upon us now, and all teachers are in test preparation mode. Teachers have to break out of the habit of teaching to the test which they have been accustomed to over the NCLB years. Race horses are built for endurance and trained all their lives to be number one. So do you think there is any truth to this veteran’s statement? Please share your thoughts.
Believe it or now, 2020 is only seven years from now. The following video by Corning gives a glimpse of the ideal classroom of the future. Check it out and see how close we are to this now.
After viewing this video, our millennial screenagers are already there. As an educator, are you ready for the future? Can you imagine teaching in that school, however still stuck with mentality of having the fear of the use of technology? (See my previous post on the “Luddite educator“) Times are changing, so shall we…
Love those videos by Vi Hart. We also love this guy Pythagoras. But do we really know him? There are two great reads that claims that this guy plagiarized the an African Theorem and flipped it as the Pythagoras Theorem.
1. “Stolen Legacy” by George GM James
Pythagoras of Samos
2. “Civilization or Barbarism” by Cheik Anta Diop.
If you really want to get weirded-out, do some research on his cult following.
What does AUP stand for? Acceptable Use Policy… Believe it or not, every entity that allows you access to the Internet (that you do and do not pay for), yes…that check box… is part of your AUP - Better known as the small print.
As a digital citizen, you cannot take for granted your rights. Take the time to read what you agree to. It may seem tedious but you need to be aware of the terms you legally are accepting.
As an educator, I must be responsible and model this behavior. If your students don’t know the school’s AUP, make sure you introduce it to them immediately (especially when your school district officially kicks off “BYOD” madness.)
right? As we enter the high-stakes testing season, be mindful of our youngsters that must undergo these assessments that determine if learning took place for the whole year or semester.
movement. We just don’t want to admit it. The source of what powers technology is “the problem”. Using common sense, we all know that there will be a great demand for charging these devices to last throughout the day. 
