Week 8: Testing and Playing

Oh the things that can be said about testing… We had a long discussion in class about it on Thursday night and it got me thinking: what really is the purpose of testing and what exactly is being tested?

I found it funny that Ayers said he did not support standardized tests but was excited when his son came home saying he did well on one. It just goes to show how important test results have become. In the book Tested, it seems that the ONLY thing that matters for that elementary school is the test scores. They work all year preparing for one day! I realize that this school has kind of taken test prep to an extreme, but the idea of “teaching to the test” is very real. Even though the WASL was created by teachers and is a collection of things that students should know at each grade level, teaching to the test still seems like it would leave out important topics.

I think there are ways that teaching to the test can done well though. If past test questions are used as a guide, as a reference, to what might be on the test, teachers can make sure they cover those topics in class. I think the key here is not saying, “Now we are going to do some WASL test prep”. The topics on the test should simply be worked in to what is being taught anyway. I think this will also alleviate some of the stress on the students surrounding the test and make them feel more comfortable about it.

On a completely different topic, I had a “you can’t say you can’t play” moment at recess today. One of my little girls, Alexis, came up to me and said, “Ms. Greenberg, I asked if I could play with Ally and she said I could, but I have to be an Owner… I don’t want to be an Owner; I want to be one of the endangered animals…” I ask Alexis why she didn’t want to be an owner. After all, she wasn’t being denied a place in the game. She just said she really wanted to be an endangered animal but Ally wouldn’t let her. I then talked to Ally. She said she didn’t know why Alexis couldn’t be an endangered animal and that she wasn’t going to play that game anymore anyway. I told Ally that next time she should think about how it would feel to be left out of a game. Unfortunately, that was the end of that because recess was over and it was time to go inside. Throughout this whole encounter I kept thinking about the book and about what Vivian Paley would have done. Of course I didn’t have the time do such an extensive exploration as she did, but I at least was able to talk to both girls involved to try to figure out how to solve the problem.

I still question the “you can’t say you can’t play rule”. It sounds good, but what if there is an activity where only a certain number of people can play like soccer or baseball or another activity where teams need to be even? I can legitimately see children telling friends that they can’t play because it would make the teams uneven. Even if this rejected child was told he could play if he found someone else to even out the teams, what happens if there are takers to this offer? This child would still be rejected by those playing the game. I guess this kind of rule comes with some exception perhaps; defining those exceptions, however, is a monumental task! Where would you draw the line? Why would there even be situations in the first place where it would be ok to reject a fellow player? Do allowing exceptions make the rule null and void? There are so many questions! I don’t know if I would use this rule in my classroom or not. Maybe I would create some different form of it. I agree with all the older students from the book who said that it could work in kindergarten, but once you get older, the charm and simplicity of the rule has worn off.