Week 4 Reflection - Teaching With Technology

I learned a lot this week during the readings and videos of week 4. Although I could mention everything I learned, there is just one thing that stands out above all the rest; kids being tested in a variety of ways. This comes from the quote, "For an assessment to accurately reflect what students know and can do, those students must be giving their best effort.” I often share with colleagues that if the sun and the moon align perfectly many of my students will be successful on exams. Formal paper-pencil assessments provide the data required by many however often do not show a true representation of a child’s abilities. Many students suffer high levels of anxieties when taking standardized assessments." This quote came from Rose, D., & Meyer, A. (2002). Teaching every student in the digital age: Universal design for learning, chapter 7. The reason that this quote his me so much and got all of my attentions is because I am one of these kids. My whole life I have suffered with test anxiety. There has been one mode of testing while growing up and it has kicked my butt every time. It really tore me up when it came to teacher certification and principal certification. The more high risk the test, the more anxiety i get. Today there are a variety of ways that children can be assessed without having to take a standard test. The minds of our children, like mine, are not wired to take standardized test. We all need something more engaging and interactive. There should be multiple of opportunities of how kids should get to show what they know and do not know. Until we can fully implement that then we will never truly know what are kids know.