Kevin's+Multimedia+Essay

Assessments, tests, quizzes, test prep, standards, and open ended formatted questions...not a day goes by when I don't hear those words either in the faculty room, on the announcements or in an email being sent. Our kids are constantly being 'assessed'.



As a AP US History teacher I constantly find myself pitted in a struggle against content memorization versus using 21st century skills within the classroom. Yet I know as I walk into my classroom that all my students are different. Yes they are competitive but they also brings unique talents into the classroom. Every time a test would come up I would get questions of moving the test to another day because they already had a test in another class. In fact it seems as though they were being tested everyday.

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In looking at the syllabus and grade book from this past semester in my AP class, students had 8 tests, 4 essays, 1 "major" research paper, and a final exam. Additionally some students may have opted to the take the CollegeBoard AP test as well. The AP test by the way includes 80 multiple choice questions, one open-ended question and a DBQ. College Board recently changed their policy of letting students know what the topic of the DBQ would be, students going into the DBQ had no idea what it would be the day of the test students had to complete a DBQ on the Puritans, a subject last covered in 8th grade. I found myself asking how well students possibly could do on a question like this, a question which was covered before students were even accepted into the honors track.

Why Digital Technology is Needed

Theory #1

That 150 years ago they got it right, all students learn the same, should know the same content and that the world needs more college professors, lawyers and jeopardy contestants. Testing is best done with a pencil and paper based on information which is memorized, the teacher has all the knowledge and has the responsibility to impart that knowledge to students. Learning is done in isolation, tested individually and your community are those people who live within your community.

Theory # 2

Students learn differently, that their exists so much information in the world that we need to develop skills not content memorization rather we need content management skills. The capacity to negotiate a wide range of knowledge rests with the student and there are many ways to showcase their understanding through many different platforms. Our students are continuously changing. Technology can help support that demand. Students learn together, can assess together, and your classroom is the world. [|Learning never stops.]



Where we need to go?


 * Bring technology to every student, closing the digital divide needs to be a national goal, it can't be a program that waits five years. Forget about immigration, partisan divisions, tax policy, gays in the military, and healthcare, our national needs to make it a priority that by August every student will have access to technology and every teacher will get the training to use that technology effectively within the classroom.
 * Use research about how people learn and start using it, we need large scale changes in our schools.
 * Get rid of government policies that penalize students because they don't pass a standardized test. I have a feeling that most government officials would score poorly on those tests. Develop assessments that test the students ability to create authentic learning experiences that demonstrate their growth as an individual. Yes we need lawyers and college professors but we also need entrepreneurs, scientists and artists.
 * Allow students to use computers to complete their tests, embrace technology as part of the test.