I was checking the schedule of tests
that included State, national and school evaluations and I began to feel stomachache, since I had the same feeling since I was a child, thinking I would
not be able to repeat what someone else wanted me to say always had put me very
badly. I have not been able to understand why repeat what someone else says, or
respond with a letter made me a better person, but it certainly had an impact
on my life.
When I was able to sit next somebody
who had bought the best test, things were going well and when I got back home,
there was no problem, but when I failed and got less than a C, my father
recited me a litany that I learned from memory and even now I can't repeat
without thinking too much about it: "your grandfather arrived from far
away without a penny in his pockets and built an empire, which I've cared
carefully and you pretend to come and
landslides it, it is not possible you can´t even choose from 4 letters correctly, I want
you to study so you can do something even better with the company".
So, no, the exams were never my thing,
and now I should be asking children to answer them.
My head began to spin, but stopped when
I received a notification from Facebook, my father had just posted the picture
I sent him of our blue ribbon obtained at the science fair and added a
message: "my son now inspires others so they can learn". Without a
doubt it was his way that showed me that he was proud of me...
My phone rang at that and with reluctance,
I looked in my pocket, I saw the screen
and it was a call from Gaby, how could I
deny something to her?. Her voice sounded between noise, but told me: David, we
are thinking to enjoy few drinks, if you agree to join us, someone will pick
you up, please, say yes go!.
I said it , I could not refuse something to her. I could
also imagine her with her shoes in her hand, her crumpled dress and singing
Karaoke, and no doubt, she had some experience
with drinks because it was 3 o'clock, I was
sure to 6 o'clock, we would all be vomiting sidewalks... who care about exams?,
I changed my shirt and waited to hear the bell ringing.
My mentor was in front of the door,
when I opened, she smiled and told me that she and her husband were there to
take me to a meeting, I was on the verge of a heart attack when I saw the car:
a Prius!, while I closed the door I could not avoid the question: is there a
Awards State by buying Prius?
-No, there is not,
replied her husband, but it saves a lot on gasoline and allows you to go
unnoticed, because many believe that it doesn't have enough power.
I knew the Prius’s power very well, but
this time, it felt different, the car moved soft and I didn't have to holding
to the seat belt, when we arrived at our destination, I did not kissed the
ground, I was alive and complete.
When we walk down the sidewalk, I saw
Gaby with her phone on her ear, when we saw us, she waved and started walking
was a place of smoothies called Jamba
Juice, I figured out we would start there to have something in our stomach
before the alcohol flooded in it.
We all looked for several minutes the
menu, except for my mentor, she directly asked what she wanted. When all had
our drink I couldn't stop asking her what she had chosen and why, but she just
said: taste it!. It was the most insipid which had proven
in life!.
Gaby started the conversation: David, we
invited you here because the statewide assessments will begin soon, that means
teachers and students begin to feel sleepless and rates of gastritis and stress-related
problems will intensify. It is time to
prepare the children so that they will not suffer all that and they can survive
the process.
But how we can prepare them?, they must
demonstrate what they know, what I've taught them!.
- That is the
first mistake, answered my mentor. Actually nobody evaluate what children know,
education is evaluated, not the learning. We use children as an excuse to measure the impact of
schools and thus politicians can say if they are doing their job well or not. Children
don't matter in this equation. If they learn or not, no one returns and
responds with the tests with calm consideration so children understand why they answered right or wrong way and of course,
nobody will take the time to analyze how child came to answer who believed that
it was correct.
Gaby added to it:
- The
assessments are only to create numbers that indicate if the schools deserve or
not a budget, everything is a matter of money. But at this moment in
particular, when the State is closing more than 60 schools, the pressure will
be greater.
Yes, I had already heard about the
closure of schools, I had not felt threatened so far. How can I prepare
children?. My mentor began to speak:
-You have done a great job showing that
motivation is power, but so far, you've used constructivist techniques that
usually hit the wall at the time of the assessments, as children play in class
and learn, but on examination there is no possibility of interpretations, a
computer analyzes only if you write A, B, or C. don't matter, names or how many
hours children studied. So that from now on will help you to design a strategy
so that the children are familiar with the exams, study together to minimize
the pressure. The worst thing we can do
is to believe that they are alone in this, we have put them in a good place for
learning, but the system is the system, and they won't know how to deal with
this without a little help.
Without a doubt the assessments were
more than the promise of learning, we had to work on them.
We spent all evening chatting, laughing
and thinking of ideas. No, we did not drink a drop of alcohol, only ate fruit
pies and fill our cups with more smoothies, in my second round asked the insipid
drink and I thought perhaps less sugar would help me o be more creative...
maybe?, because I could not stop open my
eyes with all the ideas flowing in the environment. We were planning a strategy
that I would have liked to know when I was student, many years ago.
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