report cards

Report cards! Waiting for them is always the worst part. The strange thing is I always knew how I was doing in a class, but I always felt like I never knew what grade would show up on my report card. It's always the proof for parents. They always ask you how are you doing in school and most children just tell them what they want to hear, but your report card is the ultimate evidence. I do feel that we need report cards though. We need them because they can work in our favor as student's. When I think of report cards I always think of the saying" men lie, women lie, numbers don't." A lot of students say teachers may have something against them and they just gave them a grade. But if you ask for them to show you a progress of all your work factored into the grade, and that is the reason for your recorded grade, than it is a fact. So my advice to everyone is do your best and it will be exciting to get your report card, not nerve wrecking.

standardized test

Very Unfair! I think standardized test are unfair to all students, even if you are a good test taker. If your a good test taker and you do well on a standardized test most of the times they place you in some upper level class but then once you get in their lets what if your not as proficient in the subject that you happened to excel in on the test. I believe standardized test are very misleading. They hold too much pressure on students. When I was in school I hated them. Especially when they are for placement to see where you are qualified. A lot of students are not good test takers so should they be judged on a one time test? The difference between regular classroom test and standardized test is that the teacher sees a student's progress based on other assignments, with standardized test I feel that students are judged on this. Standardized tests should not be weighed so heavily.

Essay Test or Multiple Choice..

This is a tough decision. I can't say that one is actually better than the other. It all depends on how you test and did you study. Personally when I know I have had a thorough night of studying I'd prefer to take an essay test because they are direct and its almost as if your regurgitating the answers. On the other hand if the question is formatted in a weird way it may be difficult for your to stress your points. A lot of people think multiple choice test are simple because if you don't know the answers you can always guess, but sometimes the guessing goes completely wrong and your chances of getting a bad grade is increased based on how many options are on the test. In my class I will distribute a variety of different types of test such as; fill in the blanks, matching, multiple choice, and essay, this way I can get a feel of how the students react to each test.

Portfolios

I think portfolios are a great idea in the classroom. In elementary school I remember using portfolios a lot, not only in academic courses but in classes like music or art. It's a great way to keep your students organized and it allows everyone to stay on task. Portfolios provides a form of structure that will benefit the student, teacher, and parents. Portfilios can also be used as a good study guide, I remember using it as this in about the 5th grade. The teacher was going to give us a test on multiple topics that we have learned and we took home the portfolios and studied all of our worksheets that we have done so far. It helped me a lot because it refreshed my memory on some of the older topics that we had learned and I was able to study from the work that I already knew.

What Teachers Should Expect..

Teachers should always expect the most. And with these expectations it should be evident that your students are aware of this. If your students know that you have confidence in them it is a good chance that you will try harder. I have noticed throughout the many years of being a student teachers have different standards and expectations for different students. The teacher may push one student to get an A, while he/she only pushes the other to get a C. I think this may be based on what they have noticed the students to receive on other assignments. I believe that you should always push for the maximum for all your students, treating them equally, and giving all of them the same opportunity. This motivation will encourage them to do better. If they see that you don't really care as their teacher, or doesn't expect much from them, they won't try as hard as they could to succeed. If you know that your student has tried their best and still didn't receive an A, you should commend them for their works and still encourage them to reach that goal of an A, adn not settle for less.

Homework

I think the goal of homework is of course supposed to help students, but that doesn't necessarily mean it does. Homework is supposed to enhance students learning outside the classroom and also give them practice so that the teacher is sure that they have learned the material. When it comes to homework a lot of times parents interfer and they may even do the assignment for the child, giving them little opportunity to even learn, I see this as a problem. When someone is doing the assignment for you, your not really learning. As a future educator I do plan to give homework but I don't think I will emphasis on its value. The most important work I believe is how the student performs in the class because the teacher actually witnesses the students work and their habbits.

rubristrar

Rubristar, interesting site. I think this site was a great way for us to get a begginers experience with rubrics. Rubrics was something that I never really focuse on, even though I knew I would need them in order to have a productive class as a teacher. This site allowed us to have a great opportunity on learning how to create rubris and value their usages. Like many of my other classmates they like what they saw on this website, and is taking the information into great consideration as we all will need it in the very near future. My experiences with rubrics have been a great help for me as a student on completing task. Many of my teachers handed out rubrics with the assignments and I plan to do the same!