A Quick TAKS Poem
I have sunk low enough to steal from mass emails I've received. The reason for my degradation, as I'm sure you know, is that this week is the TAKS test. My life gets much better next week, so expect a much more thoughtful post then.
NOT ON THE TEST
Go on to sleep now, eighth grader of mine.
The test is tomorrow but you'll do just fine.
It's reading and math. Forget all the rest.
You don't need to know what is not on the test.
Each box that you mark on each test that you take,
Remember your teachers. Their jobs are at stake.
Your score is their score, but don't get all stressed.
They'd never teach anything not on the test.
The School Board is faced with no child left behind
With rules but no funding, they're caught in a bind.
So music and art and the things you love best
Are not in your school 'cause they're not on the test.
Sleep, sleep, and as you progress
You'll learn there's a lot that is not on the test.
Debate is a skill that is useful to know,
Unless you're in Congress or talk radio,
Where shouting and spouting and spewing are blessed
'Cause rational discourse was not on the test.
Thinking's important. It's good to know how.
And someday you'll learn to, but someday's not now.
Go on to sleep, now. You need your rest.
Don't think about thinking. It's not on the test.
posted by Phylemon at 9:57 PM
8 Comments:
I'm sorry. Gotta diagree with the poem. What's on the test is based on what the kids need to learn (at least for math), so if we're teaching the test, we're sure as heck teaching them what they need to learn. I've never not taught something because it won't be on the test -- pushed it back until after the test, yes; not teaching it all all -- no.
Also, as for thinking, without thinking on their own, some of the problems would be near impossible. I've seen some of the english taks open response (5 and 8 liners) -- holy cow! I'd not like to write one -- thinking they do. I know you didn't write the poem, and I know you see it differently because you don't teach math or english. I do agree that other subjects are pushed to the side that the kids need to know, but to say they're not taught to think is a bit of a hyperbole. Again, not attacking you, just not a fan of the poem so much.
By the way, have you heard they're switching to EoC (most likely) by 2009 from TAKS. Does that mean all core subjects will have an EoC to be ready for, or will it still just be math and english?
Your criticisms are justifiable, Joanna, and I certainly take no offense.
What caught my attention in the poem was the idea of not being taught to think, which is something I deal with a lot. The test simply doesn't teach a student how to apply concepts to create new information, if you get my meaning.
The problem is that with Multiple Choice tests, the student always has the "out" of closing their eyes and picking one of the choices at random, and having a one in four chance of getting it right. It is where standardized tests fail (in History at least), that there is no safeguard to make sure that a child has the ability to make reasonable and logical conclusions based on fact instead of raw emotion.
It is why everytime I ask a student, "why?" their response is, "I don't know, 'cause it is."
Sometimes they don't have the vocab to tell you why. Aren't there things you can say "just cuz" about and not really know why? That doesn't mean you can't think. That sometimes means it's so second nature to you it's hard to explain the process. Look at first year teachers! They typically have a hard time teaching because they were just so "in their element" in college that they don't know how to explain the process of it all. I could do percent problems my first year -- I couldn't teach them. I couldn't figure out how to explain that if something has 8% tax, you can just multiply by 108% to get the price. At least I couldn't explain it logically and algebraically to an outsider (in this case a student).
The thing is standardized tests are what get you "there." You have to take the SAT or ACT for college. To get to higher levels of schooling you take the MCAT or the like. To get into beauty school or trade school, you take a standardized test. Test taking skills are part of life for these kids now. Yes, they can bail and guess, but those kids who guess on the whole tests don't usually pass. There still has to be a base of knowledge. Once you get to the higher TAKS tests, you do have to think -- there are multistep problems that you have to be able to see the end and figure out a path to get there. Without problem solving skills they'd never know "enclosed" could mean volume or perimeter...there are other examples I can't think of, but I just don't agree that I'm teaching kids not to think.
Not to stir up controversy, but being the simpleton that I am...I like the poem. I liked it for what it was...a poem with an interesting take on a subject. Nothing more...nothing less.
In general, I like Standardized Tests. I took the ACT test six times. It was much more fun than the SAT test, which I took once.
My problem is that these standarized tests, and there results, seem to carry more weight then they should to people outside the school system. I think non-educators like me have latched on to it because it is easy to measure, and use it to bludgeon educators when the students don't perform well. Educators should be accountable, but at some point the rest of us need to get out of the way and let them do their jobs.
Oh, and I took one of those AP tests too. That was fun. I wish I could remember how the scoring worked, but I know I liked it because you had to make a strategic decision of then not to answer a question. I remember shocking everyone in my history class when I told them I left 33 questions blank. I think the next most was 12.
I absolutely loved the poem. It really spoke to the heart of what a lot of parents feel.
I am a teacher and a mom of a child with a learning disability whose biggest struggles in school have been with taking the TAKS test.
Every year, I have a room full of 8th graders who have reading levels ranging from upper 5th grade to 1st grade. All I want to do is teach them to read, to think, to form an opinion, and argue that opinion, to find value in what they read and say. I agree with you, everydaymathchick, that we do teach the children things they need to learn, but in all honesty, we teach them how to take a test as well. Anyone who teaches in the state of TX and admits otherwise is in denial.
By the time the middle schoolers get to high school they are so programmed to answer typical test questions that they have much difficulty asnwering the open-ended response question, which are more about writing skills than critical thinking.
The poem doesn't speak truth in every aspect but it comes pretty darn close.
i lik it! guys its a poem i llike the way it was wrote
some of the things didnt make sence but i like it awsome!!
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