The other day I was holding Oscar (who will be 4 in June) while I was shutting down my computer for the night. He said something about listening to music, and then clear as day: "We need an i-pod so we can just put the music from here to there."
"Oh, really," I responded with a raised eyebrow. We don't own an i-pod. I'm not sure if it is something he's heard about at school, or picked up from watching commercials...
Next he requests, "Mommy, let's buy one."
"Okay." Hey, why not?
Pause. Pause. Pause. "Mommy?"
"Yes, Oscar."
"What's an i-pod?"
This conversation just reminded me of how important our student's experiences are, both in and outside of the classroom, to their performance on tests. It also is important to their reading comprehension. It also reminds me that if I am going to test my students on using an i-pod then I need to teach them how to use an i-pod first. It sounds obvious, but it really isn't. Using this reasoning, teachers should "teach to the test" in regards to standardized testing. But that methodology is looked down upon. Does this make sense?
I get to present on assessment tonight, so start getting excited. We'll cover IRI's, Cloze passages, and other wonderful topics.
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it is not fair that in some cases students have to struggle with the test format as much as the content of the test.
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