Visualizing Cultures was launched at MIT in 2002 to explore the potential of the Web for developing innovative image-driven scholarship and learning. The VC mission is to use new technology and hitherto largely inaccessible visual materials to reconstruct the past as people of the time visualized the world (or imagined it to be).
According to a New York Times analysis, New York City students have steadily improved their performance on statewide tests since Mayor Michael Bloomberg took control of the public schools seven years ago.
Critics say the results are proof only that it is possible to “teach to the test.” What do the results mean? Are tests a good way to prepare students for future success?
Tests covering what students were expected to learn (guided by an agreed-upon curriculum) serve a useful purpose — to provide evidence of student effort, of student learning, of what teachers taught, and of what teachers may have failed to teach.
More serious questions arise about “teaching to the test.” If the test requires students to do something academically valuable — to demonstrate comprehension of high quality reading passages at an appropriate level of complexity and difficulty for the students’ grade, for example — then, of course, “teaching to the test” is appropriate.
Reading is the crucial subject in the curriculum, affecting all the others, as we know.
An almost exclusive focus on raising test scores usually leads to teaching to the test, denies rich academic content and fails to promote the pleasure in learning, and to motivate students to take responsibility for their own learning, behavior, discipline and perseverance to succeed in school and in life.
Test driven, or force-fed, learning can not enrich and promote the traits necessary for life success. Indeed, it is dangerous to focus on raising test scores without reducing school drop out, crime and dependency rates, or improving the quality of the workforce and community life.
Students, families and groups that have been marginalized in the past are hurt most when the true purposes of education are not addressed.
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Mayor Bloomberg claims that more than two-thirds of the city’s students are now proficient readers. But, according to federal education officials, only 25 percent cleared the proficient-achievement hurdle after taking the National Assessment of Education Progress, a more reliable and secure test in 2007.
The major lesson is that officials in all states — from New York to Mississippi — have succumbed to heavy political pressure to somehow show progress. They lower the proficiency bar, dumb down tests and distribute curricular guides to teachers filled with study questions that mirror state exams.
This is why the Obama administration has nudged 47 states to come around the table to define what a proficient student truly knows.
Test score gains among New York City students are important because research finds that how well one performs on cognitive tests matters more to one’s life chances than ever before. Mastery of reading and math, in particular, are significant because they provide the gateway to higher learning and critical thinking.
First, just because students are trained to do well on a particular test doesn’t mean they’ve mastered certain skills.
Second, whatever the test score results, children in high poverty schools like the Promise Academy are still cut off from networks of students, and students’ parents, who can ease access to employment.
Reliable and valid standardized tests can be one way to measure what some students have learned. Although they may be indicators of future academic success, they don’t “prepare” students for future success.
Since standardized testing can accurately assess the “whole” student, low test scores can be a real indicator of student knowledge and deficiencies.
Many teachers at high-performing, high-poverty schools have said they use student test scores as diagnostic tools to address student weaknesses and raise achievement.
The bigger problem with standardized tests is their emphasis on the achievement of only minimal proficiency.
While it is imperative that even the least accomplished students have sufficient reading and calculating skills to become self-supporting, these are nonetheless the students with, overall, the fewest opportunities in the working world.
Regardless of how high or low we choose to set the proficiency bar, standardized test scores are the most objective and best way of measuring it.
The gap between proficiency and true comprehension would be especially wide in the case of the brightest students. These would be the ones least well-served by high-stakes testing.
A quick guide to help teachers get started with Web 2.0. Stick figures included!
I love the focus on moving beyond the 'Yeah buts'. Great design as well.
"It sells itself as a "4 Dimensional Story telling" app. In a nutshell, it allows you to tell stories through (1)images/videos, (2)narration, (3)maps and a (4)timeline (hence the 4 dimensions) OR WHO/WHAT, WHEN and WHERE."
Qu'est-ce qui ne va pas? Unidad didáctica digital para 2º ESO Francés desarrollada con la herramienta de autor Malted. Necesitas Java y Plugin Malted web 2.0 para visualizarla correctamente.
Pancake Day. Unidad didáctica digital elaborada con la herramienta de autor MALTED, para inglés de 6º de Primaria; nos presenta tradiciones Británicas, origen y formas de celebrarla, introduce vocabulario referente a comida e ingredientes y nos enseña a hacer tortitas y torrijas. Es especialmente atractivo en esta unidad el rap que incluye el final, que seguro le va a encantar a los alumnos y alumnas de Primaria. También cuenta con cuaderno del profesor y con un paquete de actividades extra en formato imprimible.Para visualizar y utilizar correctamente estas unidades didácticas digitales, al igual que cualquier otro recurso TIC Malted, necesitas tener instalados en tu equipo Java y el plugin Malted Web 2.0
Can you play the guitar? Unidad didáctica digital para inglés de 5º de Primaria diseñada con la herramienta de autor Malted que cubre aspectos gramaticales relacionados con el modal can para expresar habilidad, enseña a hacer preguntas y respuestas con dicho modal, así como a usar adverbios de modo. También presenta una serie de instrumentos musicales y verbos que expresan acciones con los mismos. Cuenta con un cuaderno del profesor y un paquete de actividades de consolidación en formato imprimible.Para visualizar y utilizar correctamente esta unidad didáctica digital, al igual que cualquier otro recurso TIC Malted, necesitas tener instalados en tu equipo Java y el plugin Malted Web 2.0
A video discussing the semantic web (as some call Web 3.0) - this is still being discussed, however, with personal assistants (Siri) and the ability to communicate to increasingly intelligent devices that access the web, it is likely that some of the technologies we have today are transitional technologies that are transporting us from Web 2 to Web 3 as we speak. Remember, however, that although we are moving ahead, that the characteristics of previous "webs" are still there. We can still search like we did in Web 1 and we are certainly seeing explosive growth in social media (Web 2) but Web 3 is here. I think this video is a nice explanation.
Are you searching for a way to share documents, presentations, slideshows, or a series of photos or images with your students?
Then Voice Thread is the free Web 2.0 tool for you and your students (teachers can register for a free education account).
@Coolcatteacher share this K12online Web 2.0 booklet stating that classroom's considered Web 2.0 are held up by 6 pillars: Internet Safety, Information Literacy, Internet Citizenship, Internet Teamwork, Intentional Internet Activities, and an engaged teacher.
The six top free online tools were selected from available web 2.0 tools for teaching and learning using presentations, blogging, and bookmarking online resources. There are many excellent online tools available in these three categories, making the selection difficult at best. However, the selection was made based on reviewing available online resources along with other contributions and feedback from teachers.