Testing and assessment are the two trickiest parts of teaching. They are crucial to understanding what your students are learning and where they are at. It is tricky because a lot goes into making a proper test. You always have to make sure your test is reliable and valid to ensure it is a proper measurement of knowledge learned. You also want to make sure you use different types of tests to assess different skills. Mixing multiple choice and listening will help ensure different skills are being tested. Multiple choice items are defined as being closed-ended because they are either right or wrong. Writing response questions are defined as open-ended because they have multiple ways of answering. Both of these assessments help test a student's knowledge of the material.
Testing is always difficult because you must decide if you will make your own test or if you will use one provided to you. Using an already made test is much more time efficient but if not overlooked properly, it can be unreliable or invalid. If you make your own test you must consider all of these variables and it is very time costly. Making your own assessment can be very beneficial though. It can be more closely aligned with the material you are teaching in class, therefore, it becomes much more valid. You also have the freedom to use any activities you want rather than being closed in.
There is also a difference between formative and summative assessment. Formative assessment is a more informal type of assessment that can help teachers measure students on a daily or weekly basis. These assessments can be helpful for students to measure where they are at in learning the material before taking a comprehensive chapter test. A summative assessment is typically a comprehensive test meant to measure much more knowledge.It is useful at the end of the semester to see what the student learned throughout the semester or year.
Monday, November 26, 2012
Monday, November 5, 2012
Cultural Sensitivity
All three of these chapters had a clear message of inclusion and cultural sensitivity. There are going to be situations in your classrooms that call for an immense amount of understanding and we as future teachers need to know how to prepare for these situations. A great way to prepare is to be very culturally aware of your students to better understand them. By trying to get to know their culture, they will feel closer to you and trust you. While you can do this on your own time, asking them simple questions about their lives will make them feel that you care about where they come from and the differences they might be experiencing. As teachers we must also be aware that everything is not always going to go according to plan and we will have to deal with sensitive and sometimes controversial in the classroom. When I was a senior in high school there was a tragedy with a girl in my class that happened during the school day. My teachers had to react to this event and support the students in any way they could. That is something they don't teach you in school but you have to be emotionally and mentally prepared that something like this could affect your classroom. Brown also mentioned not fueling events that may disempower the students. I thought of the teacher I had for C&I 212 because he shared with us how he helped undocumented students advocate for laws such as the DREAM act. You help give your students a voice and by showing them you care by actively participating in events that are important to them.
Kuma also presents a more analytic view upon cultural differences in the classroom. He discusses the issue of different dialects emerging across the country. "Ebonics" or African American vernacular, is a definite presence in the classroom we should be aware of. Understanding your students and where they come from is important but this could also present an issue when it comes to grading and assessment. Is it okay for them to use AAV or do they have to resort to standard English? Using standard English wouldn't be true to their culture but they may not learn the correct version if they aren't required to spell it in the correct way. But on the contrary, who is to say what is "standard". Every dialectal or regional English thinks their way of speaking is correct. This is an important issue to consider facing in the classroom especially when teaching ESL learners. What will you teach them about different dialects and different vocabulary?
Kuma also presents a more analytic view upon cultural differences in the classroom. He discusses the issue of different dialects emerging across the country. "Ebonics" or African American vernacular, is a definite presence in the classroom we should be aware of. Understanding your students and where they come from is important but this could also present an issue when it comes to grading and assessment. Is it okay for them to use AAV or do they have to resort to standard English? Using standard English wouldn't be true to their culture but they may not learn the correct version if they aren't required to spell it in the correct way. But on the contrary, who is to say what is "standard". Every dialectal or regional English thinks their way of speaking is correct. This is an important issue to consider facing in the classroom especially when teaching ESL learners. What will you teach them about different dialects and different vocabulary?
Research Progress Report
I think I have narrowed down my topic from CLT in general to how does CLT affect students of different cultures and how can we in turn be more culturally sensitive to these students' needs. So far I have started putting together my outline of where I want to take the paper. I took your feedback of narrowing down my topic to where I could ask a specific question for my focus. I want to research the education systems of multiple countries (such as the article, The end of CLT) and study how it clashes with the principles of clt. After assessing the situation, I want to take it a step further and have a small focus upon how we can accommodate students from cultures where the clt style isn't applicable. Also as a final note, comment upon if there is a best method to account for all different learners.
1. http://www.mjal.org/Journal/Community.pdf
The first article I found is a basic overview of clt from an american perspective.I thought it was interesting because the article states advantages but no disadvantages. I'm planning on using this article to display the elitist type attitudes Americans can have towards their own methods. It shows how we are not being culturally sensitive when saying this method is universal. It does provide a lot of good information though about the ins and outs of clt and how it is used in the classroom.
2. "The end of CLT: a context approach to language teaching" (Bax)
I really wanted to include this article in my research because it gives specific examples of clt failing in other countries. It gave examples from Czech Republic, Holland, and Taiwan which is a good contrast. I feel many times people don't drastically separate us from European nations but their school systems are very different from ours. The article also has plenty of contrasting opinions which will help provide me with evidence of the contrast between U.S attitudes and other countries.
3. http://yin-yang-india.com/tag/comparison-of-education-systems-around-the-world/
This is actually a blog by a woman who relocated to India after growing up in the States. She compares the Indian views on education (pre-college) to American views and standards. I think this is such an interesting perspective because it is a reflection upon her own culture. I experienced this when I went abroad to Spain, it caused me to somewhat question the way we do things in America and how it differs from other countries. She also provides TED talks links which could be useful (further research needed).
1. http://www.mjal.org/Journal/Community.pdf
The first article I found is a basic overview of clt from an american perspective.I thought it was interesting because the article states advantages but no disadvantages. I'm planning on using this article to display the elitist type attitudes Americans can have towards their own methods. It shows how we are not being culturally sensitive when saying this method is universal. It does provide a lot of good information though about the ins and outs of clt and how it is used in the classroom.
2. "The end of CLT: a context approach to language teaching" (Bax)
I really wanted to include this article in my research because it gives specific examples of clt failing in other countries. It gave examples from Czech Republic, Holland, and Taiwan which is a good contrast. I feel many times people don't drastically separate us from European nations but their school systems are very different from ours. The article also has plenty of contrasting opinions which will help provide me with evidence of the contrast between U.S attitudes and other countries.
3. http://yin-yang-india.com/tag/comparison-of-education-systems-around-the-world/
This is actually a blog by a woman who relocated to India after growing up in the States. She compares the Indian views on education (pre-college) to American views and standards. I think this is such an interesting perspective because it is a reflection upon her own culture. I experienced this when I went abroad to Spain, it caused me to somewhat question the way we do things in America and how it differs from other countries. She also provides TED talks links which could be useful (further research needed).
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