As the semester comes to a conclusion, I find myself thinking back to where I began this blog in January. My goal was to determine how I felt as a future educator about standardized tests, like the MEAP, as well as what struggles I will face with the No Child Left Behind Act in my classroom. Today I can honestly say that I feel like I have a clear opinion in my mind about standardized testing: I think they’re WAY more hurtful than helpful to students and teachers.
I have really enjoyed completing this blog assignment throughout the course of the semester. Yes, at times (like today where I am posting several responses at once) I felt like I was “jumping through hoops” just to get a grade, but these were mostly my thoughts before I actually sat down and started working. I would usually wait until the last minute, and whine about the fact that I had to work on it. However, once I sat down at Google Reader each time, I would find myself enjoying the act of skimming the articles. I really enjoy creating the posts because I feel like I can just free-flow and type ideas as they come to me, and respond honestly to an article that I’ve found. I think this is one of the best things that goes with blogging: the honesty it produces from not only the bloggers, but the people who comment as well.
I am excited to try and use an RSS aggregate like Google Reader and blogging in my future classroom. I think it’s a great way to incorporate current events into the classroom without sending students on a hunt through old newspapers at home (I used to hate that!). I also think the idea of blogging just as a reading-response notebook is great because it always students to be creative, use the technology that nearly consumes their after-school lives, and communicate with other classmates. I have enjoyed this assignment and have learned a lot about not only testing, but about technology enhancing learning in the English classroom.
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