Multiple choice and essay in early education

My latest adventure included the opportunity to teach assessment strategies to future early childhood educators. I was thrilled at the opportunity and really it all happened by chance. I began sending out application packets when I finished course work thinking that I might find an adjunct position. As it happens, I found so much more!! Alas, I was not ready for the work ahead.....

For this particular endeavor, I was given a handy dandy little text book entitled Assessing in early childhood (5th ed.) by Sue Wortham. It was not a bad text although I might have chosen one that spent less time on standardized testing. Still, appropriate practices, and discussion of such, were plenty so I was content in this regard. Unfortunately, I soon found that I had little use for the text. It seems that I was mandated to teach developmentally inappropriate practices for the bulk of the semester (despite assurance during the interview process that I would have some academic freedom and could choose many of my own assignments with student input).

In this instance, efforts to meet accreditation requirements required students buy membership to a portfolio management system. In this system, they would deposit uniform assignments that each instructor/professor must teach. Different courses carry different portfolio assignments that must be submitted. I understand this practice. I know that in the history of higher education, lack of standards made some degrees from some schools more valuable than others. Teacher candidates at one university might be learning something completely different than teacher candidates at another university (although, this may not be all bad if we consider varied needs across our nation)(Boning 2007; Silver, 2006). However, never in my wildest dreams did I think I would be required to teach early educators how to administer a 20 item teacher made test that included multiple choice, short-answer and essay items. Moreover, these future early educators were required to administer a pretest to all their young students at once. Then, they would teach to the weaknesses noted on the pretest and retest at the end of their learning unit. Testing 20-27 children 8 years of age or under with such a tool, at the same time, is absolutely not developmentally appropriate!! We are working with teachers who will teach children, age 0-8!! Many of the children are just learning to talk. The seasoned teachers working with the early childhood candidates often expressed dismay at such antiquated methods of working with young children.


This was an embarrassment. I have spent five years pouring over literature, making observations and working with young children in an effort to do better for our children. I know better than this but, for at least the foreseeable future, I would have had a huge fight on my hands in an environment resistant to change. Indeed, I was expected to spend the bulk of the semester on this monstrosity while neglecting early intervention, developmental check lists, rating scales and teacher observations. Further, alternative learning environments were not explored, at all. The traditional classroom reigned supreme.

This reminds me that I gave full disclosure. I am not a fan of the traditional classroom and have no intentions of preserving it. Our children deserve freedom from oppression and I will fight for nothing less. Hence, I have refocused my efforts on dissertation. I have no idea where I will fit in the larger scheme of things but I intend to be much more careful about who I align myself with in the future. I must remember to protect my reputation as well - it would be difficult to gain good reviews when working in an environment in which one is philosophically opposed! Thus my explorations into the world of academia have begun.....




Boning, K. (2007). Coherence in general education: A historical look.
The Journal of General Education, 56(1), 1-16.

Silver, H. (2006). ‘Things change but names remain the same’: Higher education
Historiography 1975-2000. History of Education, 35(1), 121-140.

Learning without scripts....

With qualifying exams behind me, I am now refining ideas for dissertation. In the process, I have happened upon some treasures that I have, regretfully, missed for so many years. First, I've finally met Paulo Freire - not in person, but through one of his books. In Teachers as cultural workers: Letters to those who dare teach Freire (2005) mentions that the rigidity of structured educational environments makes it such that some people are "...forbidden to be" (p. 16). The control of teachers and students is insidious and freedom is squelched.


Somehow then, I went from Freire's democratic ideas of education to the topic of unschooling.The idea of democratic learner centered education is not new to me. After all, I home school my children and try to help them explore their natural abilities and interests. But, I have not been a typical 'unschooler'. I have utilized curriculum to teach too many subjects probably.....or, this is what I've told myself since I heard Howard Gardner and James Gee on Edutopia recently. This belief that I have erred in my ways has been made stronger by my introduction to unschooling. Dr. Ricci, Sir Ken Robinson, Johh Taylor Gatto and George Land have opened a whole new educational world to me. The more I hear from these people, the more excited I get.


Initial thoughts are that I agree with Dr. Robinson when he says that we zap creativity out of children because of our methods of schooling. I agree with Dr. Ricci when he says that we have too many rules for learning and if we leave children to explore, they create rich learning experiences on their own. I like that Dr. Gatto recognizes mass compulsory education is similar to herding animals. And, I look forward to reading Land's books on creativity. I believe these new resources will help me explore my dissertation topic further and I believe they will help me become a better teacher - one who promotes freedom, individual creativity, and democracy.

We are hot again!

6/29/2010 - With an unofficial job offer (anxiously awaiting the formal job offer) I decided to get reconnected. I'll have much to prepare for with fall semester approaching and the prospect of teaching four college level classes solo (can't wait) and assisting in one class (can't wait for this either)....not to mention comprehensive exams and dissertation. I'm very excited for the future and feel very fortunate.

So, now we have internet up and running again; however, I have not reconnected dish television. We lasted almost two months without everything (except cell phones). It felt good. For now, weekends, Tuesdays and Thursdays are media free (unless someone has work, school or otherwise). Even without television, there seems to be more interaction and bed time is not a fight anymore. Kids are actually tired and ready for bed at a decent hour despite being teenagers. I have no intention of turning on the tube anytime soon so we'll see how life goes without it for awhile. And, I'm hoping we keep internet access under control - if not, everyone around here knows what I might do!!!! ;)

I hope to continue this discussion with myself and my family as we let the internet back in and we keep the television out for awhile longer.

6/14 - Media free living update

Found an interesting article about tech addicted parents from the Huffington Post. A link is given to both an article in the New York Times and a CBS show on the subject. Sherry Turkle is mentioned in the NY Times article. She's from MIT and is a well respected expert in this area. After perusing the information provided, I must say "guilty as charged" and I am happy to have taken this break.

Still, I wonder if I can keep this up. Can I keep a job and maintain a media free living environment? Brad has so far....lol. My middle son has said he can live without it - in fact, his exact words were "it doesn't bother me, I don't care". Wow! What a surprise. Every time I think about reconnecting, I shudder. I don't know that I want to. I long for the convenience of the tools; but, I also enjoy the freedom, and the limits, we have now. One and half months tomorrow and the countdown continues!

Media Free Living Spaces - One Month Update

6/4 - It's been about a month since I disconnected incoming media (internet and satellite television - not cell phones or radios) from our home. It's been interesting.....

I still have a few channels with infomercials coming in. I could disconnect the boxes and have a black screen but then I would not have access to the view of earth from space accompanied by classical music. For now, I will leave it. We've cheated and watched a health show or two but over all, the television never comes on. I thought I'd miss a couple of shows and, in particular, the news but I don't miss the shows. I do miss the news occasionally. Like many, I've been praying for the oil to stop spewing into the ocean and I have to wait until I turn on the radio, go to an internet cafe or go to the library to get an update. Still, I am not uninformed and I don't really mind the scheduled news brief.

I had a weak moment (or maybe it was a flash of sanity) last week and decided to call it quits. I've got work to do and thought I should make our house 'hot' again. I even made the call to reconnect but alas, I woke up the next day to find unauthorized use of video games. Come to find out the games have been used in bed at night (after the lights were out) and I now know why some people are tired when I wake them in the morning (after a full 9 hours of sleep mind you)!!! I won't mention any names..... ;) I realize this is typical childhood behavior; but, this behavior becomes dangerous when the technology can take them, unwittingly, into ugly places. Hence, my resolve returned full force.

It's difficult, though. I admit it and when I think about my delicious account, my prezi account, my wiki, my blog, and resources such as Worldcat I get withdrawals and wish I had access. Fortunately my Endnote library is FULL of articles I need to read. The side benefit is that my lack of internet access at home prompts me to take care of items I am often distracted from.

For everyone else, feelings are mixed. My husband still says he likes it. The peace is nice, the organization is nice and the lack of negotiating media usage is pure bliss....my daughter wishes that our home was 'connected'. She doesn't like the inconvenience of having to drive to access internet. BUT, she does appreciate the lack of 'arguing' (her words) we are experiencing. Her brothers' nightly negotiations are not missed! The youngest says he hates not having media.....he misses playing Webkinz with his friend. My other son does not like it either. He misses interactions with friends on XBox. He has discovered that he can buy a cable for the XBox that will allow him to connect to a laptop so some social gaming may be coming in the near future.

It's interesting that the negotiations for time with tech tools was such an ever present occurrence in our home. I like to think I can manage a home and back and forth banter is kept to a minimum when I make a decision. I see this isn't the case with technology and wonder if the draw to the tool is the problem or is it my parenting? Sigh......

Sometimes I look forward to August (when we reconnect) and other times, I have second thoughts. I really enjoy the peace and the talks we have at night.

Media Free Living Spaces - One Month Down

6/3 - I've been neglectful of my updates. Still, while I am short on time today, I would like to make a quick note of our progress.

Positives:

No fighting over media time.

We devour books.

At night, we sit and talk before bed.

Our garden is AMAZING compared to previous years.

My house is cleaner.

My media use is planned and more on target - less browsing.

The kids go to bed at night with little or no direction from me.

We are connecting with people face to face more.

No porn.

No viruses.

Negatives:

Sometimes I feel out of the loop - my social networking is down and I miss updates.

My media use is so structured, I have less time to browse and explore.

The library kicks me out at 6:00!!!

Till next post when I hope to have more time to discuss my recent tech support experience and thoughts from my family.

Media Free Living Spaces - Week 3

5/19 - Quick update to our family adventure. I thoroughly enjoy the peace associated with not having media streaming into our home. Never, do I have to worry what they might come across on the internet or the television. I love the quiet in the house - that is, it's quiet when we aren't talking or goofing off or laughing hysterically. I was very pleased, I must admit, when my son called and said the second Peretti book had arrived and wanted to know if he could drop everything to read it. I don't know if I can 'relight' our house after the summer is over.......

I have learned that I must plan well, though. I must take care of my communication needs, per a detailed list, or I will invariably forget something and feel as though I need to run to Starbuck's, the library or some other 'hot spot' to take care of the forgotten task. Still, I'm getting better at this. I also wonder if some of my urgency to take care of things immediately isn't associated with the fact that I'm accustomed to walking to my computer and taking care of business/communication whenever the thought occurs to me. Since I can no longer do this, it bothers me physiologically to have to wait. But, I'm getting used to having to wait until tomorrow.....it's hard but getting easier.

Finally, I picked up a couple of techno tricks that probably everyone else in the world has learned. One, when I go to an internet cafe, and open ITunes, I have found that I am able to view the music libraries of my neighbors. This wasn't a pleasant experience in the beginning as I thought someone had hacked into my daughter's ITunes library and I thought we were seeing their library by mistake. This particular library we had access to had over 8000 songs - many of which were labeled EXPILCIT in the big red letters. I nearly panicked until my son came over and told me he had experienced shared libraries with his cousin whenever they'd have their computers open in our house at the same time. Interesting......happily, the library in question disappeared when I left the internet cafe. I have also found the entire TWU campus is 'hot'. Library closed early (at 6p) between semesters and I had a proposal I was trying to complete and get submitted.....Walked outside the library doors, sat down in the beautiful courtyard and kept working!!!

Final thought - what if parents across the United States started disconnecting their homes in order to protect their children? What if we were able to send a message to media service providers that we want the product cleaned up and safe before it comes in our home. What if we told advertisers through disconnection that we are fed up with their onslaught on childhood?!!!!! I, for one, have had enough of it......

I want the good we get from media but I'm tired of suffering the bad.