BAT Teacher: I Am Not My Test Score!

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1. 7th grade teacher in a title 1 public school says:

   July 28, 2013 at 3:26 pm

   What an excellent way to begin the discussion. “I am not my test score!.”

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2. DJ says:

   July 28, 2013 at 3:57 pm

   This is the kind of person at the core of the BAT movement! Kind, caring, loving, educated, … and ready to fight! …because love, integrity and most of all, truth is on her side!

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3. Alabama teacher says:

   July 28, 2013 at 5:03 pm

   So true! I was a horrible test taker but did fine in all my courses–including AP courses– in high school, graduated with honors from college (despite not having scored that great on the ACT and without the need to take any remedial classes) and went on to earn a Masters as well as an endorsement to my Masters.degree, I would have been in serious trouble if I were a student in K-12th grades in this day and age. Ms. Shaw’s students are lucky to have her.I am glad that she has the chance to experience real teaching. Any one who is in a position to have an effect on education today needs to read her article.
   Parents need to pass this kind of belief to their child who is subject to today’s high stakes testing. Students who go on to succeed despite not such great test scores need t share their stories. We all need to demand that high stakes testing quit being the monster that it has become.

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4. neanderthal100 says:

   July 29, 2013 at 6:48 am

   Amanda
   Your article sends chills through my soul.

   A soul who understands that education must include Creative Writing ,Arts, Vocational,, Physical Activity, Study Skills, Everyday Financial Skills, Family Life Skills, Character.

   ALL are an integral part of education.

   When a child can express themselves and vent their frustrations or just create, the brain starts growing…….the children are happier and more productive…the children develop self-confidence and a purpose in life.

   This purpose in life has been trashed using the present day-“Testing Mania” , yet the PHDs who have never been in a classroom and leaders of our DOE’s who were in education years ago when it was well-rounded, can not grasp what is happening to the educational system.

   They see ‘One Way and One-Size”
   It is extremely boring and is geared only to the academia world, who for some reason thinks everyone should excel in the same area!!!

   I know of a young man with an academic mental deficiency who was hired by the most awesome manager of one of the gas “station-mart” in our town.

   The young man rode his bicycle every single day to the gas-station in the neighborhood…talked to the customers….helped the manager with various jobs..helped any customer who needed helped taking canned sodas out to the car etc….etc..

   A new manager came on board this summer.

   The new manager took time with this young man and showed him how to get a social security card…helped him fill out an application..and everyday you go by the gas station, you will see this young man cleaning the parking lot, stocking shelves, talking to customers (all adore him) …he knows most of the regular the customers by name.

   They gave him a new Hat with the gas-station logo and t-shirt to match..

   I remember walking in the store and talking to this young man about what a great job he was doing. He smiled from ear to ear and talked about his job and how he was able to obtain a social security number.

   This young man can not pass any of the academic tests ever…. unless he guessed and got lucky….. but this young man is a productive and PROUD member of our society who is paying his taxes and is independent …and is HAPPY…

   I can name you many more whose talents in the arts and vocational fields have not been tapped because of this ‘One-Size-Fits-All” Testing Mania….

   These students feel as if they are a failure…they feel as if they have no purpose though each and every person on the face of this earth has something to offer.

   Education should be a time when they are able to find and build that talent that belongs to them….
   Education should teach these students how to share and utilize their talents with the world, therefore creating their purpose in life…

   The arts help heal our soul…the music we listen to inspire us to be creative,
   We learn through the arts to appreciate the natural beauty of this earth..

   The arts are a Universal Language and the arts inspire creativity.

   We all have innate gifts to offer this world to make it an enjoyable and peaceful world..

   How dare they take the beauty out of learning and replace it with senseless tests and misused data all for the sake of Political Gain!!

   How dare they take an individual and send them through an Academia Profit Making Assembly Line using “Testing Quality Control “as the final say in whether these mufti-talented students can be a successful member of society.

   How dare them take these talents and toss them to the side.

   I have a niece that wrote the way they wanted her to for the Tests..and now… she announced that she writes the way she wants to write and she writes beautifully, is successful in communications, enjoys life and is extremely happy after having her family coax her to use her INNATE Talents instead of the Processed ones full of the Spam created in today’s educational disaster!!
   She had to find her talent.

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5. Middle school teacher says:

   July 29, 2013 at 7:48 am

   I love this BAT’s focus on writing. She completely understands that writing can be a powerful, joyful, creative, engrossing activity. (This understanding is completely missing from the CCSS’s utilitarian list of writing “skills”.)

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6. Alabama teacher says:

   July 30, 2013 at 10:04 pm

   Thank you, Middle School teacher, for validating my thoughts/concerns reagrding the ELA CCSS! I keep wondering what we are doing to the next generation of writers. No more Jan Brets, Ann Rices, etc. All this generation will know is how to respond to text and I am afraid will not be one bit interested in real writing for the sake of writing.

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