Kist post # 7

Firestone Experience

After being at Firestone around OGT time, I felt the tension and pressure these students had on them to pass these tests. I understand the OGTs are a major part of funding and statistics to the school; however, the pressure they were putting on these students was too much. We were cramming OGT prep work down their throats, but it was material they should have already been taught and should have been review. However, some of the time I felt I was teaching them the material for the first time. I would like to think we made a difference in these students’ lives, but we were not there long enough and they had already had ten years of schooling and habits instilled. It is hard to break habits they have had for many years.

 I do not like standardized testing, I do not think it should determine anything about students and schools. I think there are other ways to determine such knowledge. Also, I do not understand why we have to have the OGTs, I think there are ways schools can get the same results, without jamming this information to sophomores in a limited amount of time. I felt like when I was a sophomore, the teachers were trying to cram all this information in, when we were supposed to have already learned it. 

Last semester, when I was working with my student I was in her Social Studies, Math, and English elective classes. The time I was there I did not observe any type of test prep exercises. It was not until I went and observed an English class that I saw them working on OGT prep. The class did two worksheets on grammar and that was it. I do not know if they were depending on us KSU students to prepare them or what. I think if the school is making such a big deal about the OGTs then the teachers need to be on board and help prep the students too. When we came back this semester, it seemed the math and science teachers were just handing out packets and telling the students to work on them for their own benefit. To me, the OGT prep was not ideal. The students were overwhelmed by the pressure and the over abundance of test prep. The students should be preparing for it starting their freshman year, so this cramming does not have to happen.

In the future when I get my own classroom, I think it will be important to incorporate the OGT material with daily lessons. To show the students how to pick our author’s opinion, context clues, definitions, themes, etc. Students can do exercises with grammar, punctuation, and spelling like on the OGT, but with their writing assignments. Student can proofread their fellow classmates’ work, similar to the OGT prep. I do not think having students do these endless packets is an effective way for them to pass the tests. While I do not agree with standardized tests, the students have to pass them to graduate; therefore, why not scaffold the material to the students. Ultimately, the material they need to know on the OGT is material they should already know and will need for the rest of high school and college. That is why I think it is important to incorporate it in the daily lessons, so students can learn through modeling. Instead, of doing the packets students can do classwork that still has the same function. For students to be able to apply the skills they know to the OGT they first have to know the basics. I am unsure how multi-modal can be incorporated into test preparation. If the preparation was incorporated into the daily lessons then multi-modal would be easier to use. They can go online and do Webquests or test prep activities. The monotony of packets is outdated. The way Firestone did its test preparation, students got bored and restless. They were rushing through the packets just to get them done, instead of trying to get something educational from them. All they knew was they had to pass this test. 

While working with one of my two students I noticed she did not know how to properly cite a website for a research paper. I asked my student, and she said that is how she always cites. I was dumbfounded. To me, it seemed no one was correcting her. I ran across the same issue when I volunteered for the Get It Done program. I was talking about citing research to a junior from Firestone, and she said she had been citing her material wrong this whole time. I do not understand how you can assign a research paper and not go over the basic foundations for it. Students need to know these basic because once they get to college, professors expect you to know it. When I worked with my students on the OGT Writing, they both had trouble with formulating how to construct their essays, so I showed them how to draw up an outline, which helped them to sort and organize their ideas. That was one of the major issues I saw, were the students’ essays were jumbled together with no organization. Again, they needed to know the basic setup of a simple essay.

Ultimately, our society is concentrated on teachers teaching material and students taking tests. It does not matter what the student learns as long as they get a “passing score.” No, we need to be more concentrated on preparing students to learn core material and to be able to apply it in the world. You run into many issues with standardized testing, some students have trouble applying the information to a test, but in another situation they can apply it. I think the pressure students have with tests, make them loose the real purpose of education. I think if a student knows the material that is more important than an “A” test. However, society notices the students with “A’s” rather than the students who can apply the information for further use. For me standardized tests show if a student is able to take a test and pick the write answer. I do not think it is a fair way to test students on material.


Here are two articles that illustrate the pros and cons of standarized tests. Both sides present good arguments.


http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/76647/good_little_robots_standardized_testing.html?cat=4


http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/76647/good_little_robots_standardized_testing.html?cat=4