End of course reflection

This course has taught me to really reflect on my teaching practice and to be more intentional as I develop instructional plans and strategies.  Necessary reminders to state the objective and break down the desired outcomes into achievable goals as a part of best practices have actually been a highlight of the course. Yes it takes more time, but the pre-planning and constant formative evaluations really help me to redesign along the way and become a better teacher as a result.

End of course reflection

As I complete my final assignments for this course I feel compelled to say I was wrong!  In the beginning, I thought this course was "too easy" for a post-graduate course.  I thought the text and its technologies was outdated.  The second text is inspirational.  The detours I found myself taking while reading this text were totally worth it.  I am inspired by rotational models, problem-based performance tasks, personalized learning and self organized learning communities.  I am fascinated with a future where a child gets to direct his own learning instead of a factory model that dictates what he/she should know.  I am also discouraged at the amount of roadblocks there are in South Carolina, but I remain hopeful for the future.

Extras from week 14

More reflections on summative assessments and in particular end-of-course exams in South Carolina for our discussion board this week...

I have two high-schoolers and I asked them if they felt EOCs were an accurate representation of what they had learned or were expected to learn throughout the semester.  This is what they said.

• The questions are unbalanced - not evenly distributed (i.e. 20% of the test comes from a single chapter.)
• The curriculum is too broad and their teachers do not have time to cover everything.
• There is unfamiliar content on the test (possibly because of the reasons above.)
• They test too early.
• Why do they have to take a final exam for the class when they took an EOC two or three weeks before?

Based on their responses, I would say that the EOC system does not work well; however, as a parent my view is that it is a necessary component.  Teachers should be evaluated.  Students should be evaluated.  I'm afraid that even as an educator, I do have not viable solution or replacement for summative evaluations.