Next year, I will sift through the ELA standards (many of which are NOT actually tested on the ELA exams) and repeat/repeat/repeat the standards that are tested from September - April. Then, I'll quickly dabble through the rest with the remaining time. Test prep and more test prep and even more test prep until they LEARN how to take the test. They'll learn what the cryptic questions are really asking. How to write a 4 mark on an extended response/critical lens. How to focus through reading poorly written and unorganized passages, etc. I will impress those who grade me with, what I like to call, my "sexy edu speech." Will my students get to experience the beauty of art in language? Nope, sorry don't have time for that. Will they get to be creative? HA! Creativity! Society doesn't want creative individuals running around out there! What I will create, of course, is a smarter test taker. A student body who can offer the world of employment a real understanding of how to dissect a question. This is what they want right? After all, people are easier to control when they're stupid.
Will that kind of intensive test prep make me a good teacher? No, most certainly it will not. Will it make me "effective"? Ahhh, but that's all that matters isn't it?
If you haven't been here yet... Go or FAIL!
http://www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog/2012/feb/21/no-student-left-untested
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