Comprehensive Literacy Class: Assessment and Intervention

I have been taking a Comprehensive Literacy Class to renew my teaching certification, and the final assignment was to share my understanding about assessment and intervention using some form of technology, like a blog. So here we go!

During this final section of my class, I had to do a lot of research about No Child Left Behind, Race to the Top, and Common Core. You would think, with all of the scouring I did on the internet, that I would feel like I have a grasp of each of these topics. But I still feel lacking. The hardest part about researching these topics is that everything I find is political! There are always people for or against each legislation, and their voices are loud. It is hard to avoid or not listen to them.

As I researched these topics, I tried to look at everything from an objective perspective. I really didn't know much about RTTT or Common Core, other than what so-and-so posted on Facebook that one time. I also tried to go right to the source. I used the official web page for Common Core, and the presidential summaries of RTTT and NCLB. They were all informative. The web site was especially great to navigate. I would recommend looking at it to any of my family, friends, and readers that have kids or just want to know about Common Core. Here is a like to the site: www.corestandards.org.

So on to what I've learned.

Most importantly, I've learned is that as a teacher (which I might be one day) and a parent, we don't get to make the laws for assessment, but we do have to abide by them. So we might as well take advantage of the good parts they have to offer. For example, I interviewed my mom while researching this topic. She told me about a lot of amazing changes that are happening at her school, including the introduction a lot more technology in the classroom. Each teacher in her school is going to have an iPad next year and will receive training on how to use it in their classroom. That's awesome!!! The students are going to love it and they are going to learn from it. Double awesome!

One thing that I have decided that I like about Common Core, at least in how it is being implemented in Idaho's standardized testing, is that the reading that students are doing is of value. I remember doing the ISATs and reading passages about nothing that had to do with anything. In fact, I can't even remember an example to give you. Now, with the SBAC, students are reading passages about things like history that really is important. That seems extremely obvious to me, have students read something of worth when we are testing them, but it wasn't done before.

I also love that students are actually having to write something when they are being tested. They don't just do a hundred multiple choice questions. They have to think deeply about what they have read. They have to understand the content. They have to form opinions and build a foundation for their life long learning process!

In school, I was pretty good student. But I was never the best, and I was never a fast reader. I remember taking the ACT and I didn't even come close to finishing the Reading section. I was so embarrassed, even though I knew no one would know unless I told them. Just the idea of not finishing was horrible! But, I still got a pretty good score because my understanding was high. We don't need to have fast readers, we need to have good, thinking readers. I would rather have my child be a super slow reader that understands what she is reading that a super fast reader who has no idea what the last 5 pages were about.

 

Now, as with any sort of mandate, legislation, etc..., there are things that I don't like about Common Core, but ranting about them here isn't going to change them. I believe in advocating change. If you feel strongly about something, do it! But the point of this blog post is not to sway anyone in one direction or another. It is to expound on my personal understanding, and for me I learned a lot of possitive things I wasn't aware of before.

 

As far as intervention goes, we as parents and teachers should not be afraid to get that help for our children. There are options for intervention. Not only in school, but at home. In a day where technology is rampant, it is so easy to find a web site or an app or something that can help our students succeed. And the best part is, it is fun!!!

Kids LOVE technology! Z can sit on my Nook for hours playing letter, number, color, rhyming, and any other kind of game he can find. He is only 3 years old, but he knows how to get the Nook to read him a book.

Just yesterday, we were driving by some construction and he said, “Mom, what is that?”

“A back hoe, I think.”

“No, it's an excavator!”

How did he know that? Star Fall. An app on my Nook that my sister-in-law told me about.

Assessment and intervention seem like such daunting terms, but they shouldn't be.

We need to assess the situation of our children. We need to intervene if necessary. We need to facilitate learning!

No Child Left Behind.

Race to the Top.

Common Core.

These are all things that are in our lives, like it or not.

Yes, you can advocate for change if you don't like it. But, until it changes, as it most likely will since politics are involved, find the good in it, deal with the rest, and teach your kids!