Post for 10/20
This week at MHS was a bit more difficult. While everything went fairly well, the plans for the day did not really allow me to observe best practices. In short, today was a testing day for all the US II classes. While the morning started uneventfully enough with Mr. D's AP US History students, the rest of the day was a real challenge for me on a few levels.
First of all, MHS' threshold for behavior is a lot wider than anything I had in my total experience as a student. In elementary, middle, high school and college, I was expected to show up on time, not talk while someone else is talking or taking a test, not eat outside of the cafeteria and most notably not use foul language. So I understand that MHS is a very different place than where I went to school, but some of their policies do not seem to coexist well with what they expect of their students or told them they expect of them. While much has been made of student engagement and active demonstrations of learning, how engaged will a student be if they have a cell phone out in every class or headphones in while taking a test? I wasn't in school that long ago that things have changed that much. I understand distractions better than most people and these are distractions that would completely derail any work I was trying to do in a classroom setting. So between phones, iPods, PSP's and a good number of side conversations; expecting students to sit quietly for a whole period and take a fairly challenging writing test is for me beyond the pale. During a prep period, I expressed my reservations about this school policy to Mr. D. The response was more dismissive than expected but definitely seemed frustrated. After some shrugging and an implication of legal complications outside of his or any other teachers' control – I let it go.
Another interesting aspect of student behavior I noticed came from students during the test itself. In addition to many barely paying attention to the assignment in front of them, several decided to outwardly shirk any responsibility for the test and decided instead to undermine their classmates' attempts at taking their test. Not only was this problematic for me but it infuriated me. Mr. D later explained that the students causing problems just did not study, acted out in response and tried to force their classmates into their same position. While apparently this is a fairly regular occurrence, I hope to dissuade any future students of mine of this type of behavior with swift and severe retribution. While making a choice not to prepare for a test is one thing, trying to distract one's classmates because of a lack of preparation is even worse. Who would have thought I'd find a new pet peeve today?
It seems that despite being given ample preparation time and a very thorough study guide, Mr. D's students just did not want to take a test and did nearly everything they could to undermine, ignore or distract themselves and others from actually taking the test. This made me wonder whether a test like this was actually a fair assessment of what the students learn and how they learn. In my experience with Mr. D, the test was thoughtfully assembled and seemed a good reflection of what his classes learned throughout the unit. However, I wonder if this is where the knowledge gap mentioned previously comes in. Maybe it isn't only a knowledge gap of content, be it timelines, politics or geography. The knowledge gap could also be knowledge of skills or behaviors many of us, myself included, take for granted and simply expect out of a socialized adult or young adult. What's missing in this equation? Socialization and schooling can't be the only solutions but fair assessments shouldn't be the casualties of this situation either. I'm not sure I have an answer to this question but I find it troubling and something to consider in the future.
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