Context For Teaching And Learning

On the other hand, OCadiz (2013) argues that standardize testing negative effect on instructional decision making in the classroom. He suggests that “the content of standardized test is not usually in tandem with typical classroom instruction and behavior because it must be generalized” (OCadiz, 2013, para. 7). Teachers have been known to modify their teaching practices and their classroom instruction to prepare students adequately for tests. Standardize assessments are known to reduce group activities among students. The disadvantage of standardize testing is that some students simply do not perform well on tests because of test anxiety. Test anxiety hinders student’s performance and has a negative impact on children’s social, emotional, and academic well-being students are intelligent and understand the curriculum, but it does not show

During the time of instruction students are drilled with testing and learning strategies, along with numerous mock test throughout the year. There is a emphasis placed on the importance of high test scores, not because high scores help the student personally or academically, but because the scores help the school, school district and state. Through current research taken in south Texas elementary school, to include twelve districts," Teachers stated that they experienced a great deal of pressure, especially from the emphasis on outcomes of state-level tests, campus principals, central office, and other teachers." (Cruz and Brown) This places a tremendous amount of stress on the student, as if just the stress of taking a test isn't enough, but now their scores not only effect them, but their teachers, school, school district and even the state of Texas. Should our students at any have this amount of stress placed on them, or even more so, our third graders? How does placing this much stress on these students, teachers and administration surrounding the STARR test benefit them, their scores, or their education? Some individuals my argue that repetition and stress is the key to success, and that by drilling the students they are more apt to retain the information taught to them.

“Juan was 7 years old and is new to the country from Mexico. Juan and his parents do not speak any English. Juan has moved to an area that has a very low immigrant/ELL population and are not familiar with proper ELL student teaching techniques. While brainstorming, one staff member suggests just simply putting Juan into a mainstream 2nd grade classroom he will quickly pick up on English because it will be all around him. The staff member claims that they heard this was the best method because if you allow Juan to have any Spanish materials or speak to him in Spanish, which no one really knows at the school, he will be babied and not want to speak English anyways. Without any other knowledge to go off the staff decides to follow through with this plan. After being placed into the mainstream classroom and hearing nothing but English Juan quickly becomes scared and stand-off-ish. Juan becomes resistant to anyone trying to communicate and begins to seclude himself from the rest of his peers. Juan does not attempt to

The classroom I observed consists of seventeen students, eight of which girls and nine are boys. Of the seventeen students, nine receive services from UCS, and five of which understood and speak English, though not fluently. The students are often pulled out the classroom to receive

The instructional setting is two eighth grade classrooms with class sizes of 28 and 32 students. Of the 60 students, ten are Hispanic, four are Asian, and one is African-American. All ten Hispanic students are bilingual with overall California English Language Development Test (CELDT) classifications of: one student intermediate, three early advanced, and one advanced. The remaining five Hispanic students have been reclassified to English proficient and do not require EL support. Four students are foster youth. Nine students receive special education support.

I think that with the proper understanding of your student’s cultures and diversity could really help with their classroom behavior. I believe our situation we discussed was not handled correctly. Especially if this escalated into a lawsuit. It is our job as teachers to handle our issues in the classroom. She could have talked with the ELL student and found the root of the problem herself. My future implications in the classroom are to find out the entire story, but I believe we should take from these situations that understanding and background knowledge could go a long way for you as an educator. If I run into an issue like this, I now know that different cultures pronounce words differently, and in the English alphabet all letters do not sound all the same with other cultures. Not only is it our jobs as teachers to accommodate our ELL students with a proper education. It is written by law in the Florida Consent Decree that all students have rights to the best education we can give

Currently, educators are faced with the controversy of reaching all learners. It is the incumbency of educators to master differentiating instruction to create a possibility for all learners to grow. Technology is a great resource to keep students engaged and motivated. It prepares them for their future, yet reaches the diversity of learning styles.

It is a third grade classroom of 20 students (8 girls and 12 boys) seated in 5 groups of 4. Most of the students are of Hispanic ethnicity, and the teacher can speak Spanish fluently and uses this skill when deemed necessary. Some students are also Caucasian, and there are a couple of African American and Asian students as well.

This kind of pressure for students faces them very early on in their educational career. Generally, in public elementary schools, students will complete state required tests that will determine if they’ll go to the next grade. Yes, it is important to test students on whether they can handle the material for next year, but designing all around just one test proves completely unfair and too much stress for children that young. There exists a pronounced alternative to large tests that accurately grade students fairly and help prepare them for the real

“This practice can hinder a student’s overall learning potential. With the stakes getting higher and higher for teachers, this practice will only continue to increase. The sad reality is that it fosters an atmosphere that is boring and lacks creativeness. Teachers have such large pressure to get their students ready for these exams that they neglect to teach students skills that go beyond the tests.” (worklife.columbia.edu).

Work done on projects and group work shows students life-long skills. Teamwork, time-management, responsibility, imagination, and innovation are all qualities students learn from assignments other than testing. Test over core material are understandable, for grasping concepts is also important. But, standard exams do not require as deep of thinking or excessive hard work (Schulten). Schools taint children’s minds when they favor more individual testing and ignore group work. Also, standardized testing has pushed teachers to teach just what is considered “testing material.” Preparation for proficiency on these exams is hard to come by other than abundant sleep on the previous night and a full stomach. Tests are timed in the classroom and recorded by a computer and that student’s score reflects them as a whole. Commonly, students are given no compassion and feel condemned and criticized when they receive substandard test grades. Education needs to be taken farther than questions where bubbles are effortlessly filled

The roles, responsibilities and boundaries of a teacher and establishing ground rules within a learning environment

Students are stressed. But, what is the goal of these tests? Are we trying to make students compete with one another to see who gets the higher score? Or are we preparing them for life outside of school? Maybe at one time these tests were used to measure how well the future leaders of our countries were learning, but now it is no longer like that. These tests seem to show no post-school value except to find the most successful kids and give them scholarships to college. Going along with this, everyone, depending on their grade, is required to take the same exact test. Despite their different ways of thinking, students are grouped together and the ones who are different are “wrong” simply because they were unable to learn it due to the way they were taught. Holding every single student to the same standards avoids the fact that everyone has a different mindset and each person may excel in different subjects. This poses a question: when will the system change? Students are held to such enormous pressure that when they meet the standards, they are convinced they’re stupid, and I struggle with this, too. However, it would be easier if all of the intimidation encountered when we are testing would just be withdrawn and students can be able to take a test, try their best, and if they don’t succeed, they can continue to work hard because, after all, a test shouldn’t determine how

The context of the classroom is a 6th grade math class. The students are at varying developmental levels from below level to advanced/gifted. The types of learners I have are the auditory, visually, and mostly the bodily/kinesthetic learners. I have students who are from multiple ethnicities such as Hispanic, White, Asian, Middle Eastern, and African American. I also have students with varying exceptionalities.

The overall functioning of a classroom is impacted by trust, safety, and consistency. When a student does not feel safe he or she will reflect this through his or her behavior. Trust is important for students to take risks and allow learning to occur in the classroom. Trust, safety, and consistency are beneficial in the learning environment. A classroom where students feel safe, realize the teacher is consistent, and trust is developed, will allow students to grow and change socially, emotionally, and academically. This will offer a positive learning environment.