Testing... 1, 2, 3..

Well I hope you can guess what I did today from the title of this blog. The students took NWEA tests for the majority of this morning. Like I mentioned in my previous post, I walked around and read questions aloud for the students who needed that accommodation. Otherwise, they were on their own to complete the test. The tests are completely computerized, which is a change from when I was growing up (obviously) and the tests required us to fill in the little bubbles.

Logistical issues with computerized testing that I learned about:

1. If Belding decides to take the PARCC (Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers) test this year, the entire school will need to take this test on computers. With a limited number of computer/laptop resources, it would take weeks to get each grade to complete the test. By doing so, instruction time is being taken away, putting the emphasis on tests rather than actually learning new material.
2. With PARCC tests, students need to be trained on how to navigate through the test. Since it’s all computerized, students will be entering equations into the program, meaning they need to know how to include an exponent or a square root sign into a given problem. This can be extremely time consuming a) to teach the students how to work the program and b) for the kids to actually use these functions during the test. If students already have test anxiety, they’ll be even more anxious if they have to enter in numbers instead of simply clicking buttons.
3. Technology has its pros and cons. Pro: Results come back quickly so teachers are able to see growth or decline from previous test results and take action quickly. Con: Computers can do funky things. For example, if the student takes too long on a problem, the computer automatically logs him or her out of the test and requires the teacher to approve the student to start the test again. It happened twice today and was quite a hassle to work with. Pro: Computerized tests save paper and other resources! Con: If a school doesn’t have enough computer resources, it takes a longer time to complete school-wide testing.

Testing continues throughout the week, but I promise not to bore you with anymore test-talk in my next post!

On a happier note! School is cancelled for tomorrow due to severe weather conditions! And because of that, Alexis and I decided to go home and stay warm with our families for a night. It’ll be a nice break to be in the comfort of our homes… even though it has only been a few days since we’ve been here!

Looking ahead: I hope to help my teacher teach a lesson on coordinate points next week. I have some really cool ideas for a lesson that will be hands-on and engaging, so here’s to hoping it gets approved and that I can teach and implement some of it! This depends on how much the students already know about coordinate points and graphing – if they understand it, then the lesson will last a day, but if they don’t understand it, then we’ll plan to teach it for a week which gives more opportunities for my activities to come into play!

HAPPY SNOW DAY! J