Week Four: Is this going to be on the test????

Oh ... I think this video sums it up...



This weeks readings focused on dialects, language, written word, and the assessment of those. In the article “Dialects in Schools and Communities” by Carolyn Adger, Walt Wolfram, and Donna Christian, makes the statement “The classroom teacher is probably in a much better position to assess student writing development than the scorer of a large-scale test –both because of being able to track individual progress across time and because of knowing precisely which dialect differences the student is managing” (123), which makes me really wonder the role state standards play. Below is a video of president Barrack Obama's view on No Child Left Behind, where he identifies the need to change the process of assessment.Even the Dornan book addresses the issue of high stakes testing, stating "Randy Bomer goes as far as to suggest high-stakes is a failure of democracy; it presents unequal structures of opportunity, it closes off inquiry, it allows the corporatization of education, it disenfranchises the people most affected by it because the public sphere is no longer available, and it creates an oppressive school environment" (213). I agree with Barrack that this issue really needs to be looked at in detail.



These two videos address the idea of the state standardized testing process, but in the Dornan book, she identifies and addresses means for us, as teachers, to alter our means of assessment within the classroom. Dornan talks about self-assessment, peer assessment, and finally, teacher assessment. In the increasingly social atmosphere of schools and jobs, I think a variety of assessment is essential. I don't think the teacher always has to have the only say in grading.

When grading, however, I think Dornan makes a strong statement in that "Rubrics should be tied to the goals of the lesson(s)" (213). When grading essays and papers, interpretation of the student and teachers may differ. I think rubrics offer a structured expectation. I also agree with the idea of using portfolios to grade students progress and improvement. Writing, to me, is a process and is a constant state of improvement by all authors. By grading a students portfolio over time, we can better assess their progress and improved writing abilities.