Cause and Effect

Hi friends! It's Sunday night, and I'm sad to say that my spring break is officially O-V-E-R. How depressing. My next day off, which isn't even a day off, but instead a pupil-free day, is April 8. Our next break isn't until Memorial Day!!  Oh boy! But that's okay, because I am reinvigorated! Not from spring break exactly, but from the tech conference that I went to. I'm really psyched for CCSS. I know, that is so incredibly weird!!  But I truly think it's going to be better! Maybe someone who is already doing CCS can let me know what it's really like. Leave a comment.


Have a great week! Only 9 weeks left for us.

CUE

Hi Friends! Happy Monday to you! Quick question: is anyone going to be at CUE this week in Palm Springs??
Let me know!!

Thinking about Testing...

Happy Sunday! And welcome to Spring! I do love the time change, although I hate losing that hour of sleep. But I'll take it if it means longer days and warmer weather!!

So, here's where my mind has been today.  We have state testing coming up in a month, and I'm actually worried about how my students are going to perform.  If their reading benchmarks are any indication of their state test scores...well, all I can say is Thank God I don't get reviewed based on them! Otherwise, I'd be looking for a new job!  So, this has me thinking...does testing make kids learn better? Are we really truly teaching them if all we do is test them?  I don't know how it is at your school or in your district, but at my school, in third grade, we give end of story tests  once a week (comprehension; literary analysis; vocabulary; oral language).  Then, at the end of 4 stories, we give a Theme test, which incorporates comprehension with vocabulary and grammar skills.  PLUS, each trimester there is a district reading benchmark test, which tests end of year state standards!!!  Now tell me, does it make sense to test kids so much??  Can't we, shouldn't we, be grading them on the standards but using something other than tests to get those grades??  For example, couldn't I use the "think critically" questions for a comprehension grade?  Or give a vocabulary activity and grade it for word fluency, rather than a vocab test??  does every grade have to come from a stinkin' test???!!!

Someone, PLEASE respond and let me know how you get your grades in your school.  I'm reflecting on my teaching here, looking for an alternative.

Thank you, awesome teacher bloggy world!

Here's another question...

So, here I sit on a Sunday afternoon, report cards done, trying to motivate myself to create a study guide for my students for science.  But I'm stuck!!  I can't even think where to start! How lame is that??  So, here is my question: do you make study guides for your students? If you do, what do you put on it?

Have a great rest of the weekend, and hope your week is fabulous!