Today marked the end of two days of state testing for reading.  The tests being administered now are different from the ones my kids had to pass just a few years ago.  The longer I work in a school setting, the more aggravated I get.  I’m upset with the perceived need for standardized testing.  It seems to me that if we would concentrate on these skills from the very first day a child attends school there would be less need for testing.   I am a product of the time when there were actually “smart” kids and “dumb” kids, often in the same classroom.  When in high school, we had to decide whether we were going to college or if we were going to receive vo-tech training.  Now, there are no “dumb” kids and kids need to know, before they even start high school, not only if they plan on going to college, but what their major is going to be.  I just don’t get it.  I know my multiplication tables, I can do math in my head, my independent thinking skills are not what they used to be, but I’ll still put them up against people half my age, and my vocabulary is dependent on multisyllabic words.  Microsoft Word does not recognize the word multisyllabic and whey they search for it in their dictionary/reference book sites, they can’t find it.  Now I know Bill Gates did not finish college, but he is far smarter than I will ever by and he should know the word…it shouldn’t be so difficult.   I digress, though.  My main point is the fact that we weren’t coddled and knew that if we didn’t learn to swim, we would sink.  Now, parents put school low on the list of priorities and the kids no it.  Too busy with sports to do homework, don’t worry, the teacher will understand.  Vacations during the school year, no problem.   Parents are teaching their children that education is not important, so there are more kids taking remedial classes in college than ever before.  Businesses are complaining about the lack of writing skills in young hires.  Yet we don’t focus on fundamental skills in the early years.  I’m a strong believer in teaching them correctly from the beginning.  My kids did not learn the parts of speech until 5^th grade, which is much too late.   

Despite what the Declaration of Independence states, we were not all created equal.  Some of have math brains, others have science brains.  A few of us have liberal arts brains.  There are people who are innate artists or builders.  We do not all learn the same.  Some of us will never go to college.  Why then, is there one test for everybody?  It seems to me that the system is set up for failure, not success and that is a crying shame.

I think research is like a treasure hunt, you know what you are looking for at least basically, but you never truly know what you will find.  I think it was a lot easier pre-computers.  Whatever you found in the card catalog was a reliable source.  You didn’t need to worry if it was someone’s personal website, a class website or a wiki, etc.  We knew how to use a book’s index to look for information and would read in search of the information; it was no big deal.

Today, though, kids treat books like they are covered in poison.  They will touch them only if forced.  Then they have no idea how to look for information.  Usually they will look in the table of contents and if it’s not there they stop.  If by chance they happen upon a page that just might contain information needed, they don’t see it.  They expect it to jump of the page at them, screaming “I’m here, you need me!”

Today’s student automatically turns to the internet whenever they need information.  They fire up Google and go to town.  Chances are pretty good that the first entry will be for Wikipedia, but can the information found there be trusted?  Well, now, there is no way to know for sure.  Even for someone who knows how to differentiate between a site that maybe shouldn’t be trusted and one that can, it sometimes is hard to tell.  Of course, none of that matters much if the text once again isn’t blinking “I’m here, this is it!”

Teach them the note card method of gathering information and they ask, “I have 7 cards, is that enough?”  They answer always is: it doesn’t matter how many cards you have, what matter is the amount of information you have.  Why note cards over cut and paste?  The answer to that is simple: plagiarism.  Who needs to make their own sentences when they are already on the page for you?  

Dictionary.com defines plagiarism as “the unauthorized use or close imitation of the language and thoughts of another author and the representation of them as one’s own original work.”  According to Plagiarism.org there are many different types of plagiarism, some of which are hard to detect.  This is perhaps why it is so hard to get the younger researchers (middle school students) to understand exactly what plagiarism is and different ways to avoid falling into that trap.

This of course, leads to another problem: the quality of their writing.  That, though is a topic for another day.   

I must admit, I’ve never really understood the reason for individuals to blog.  It has always struck me as a bit egocentric. Or maybe, it’s just big self esteem issues on my part.  Anyway,  I never could figure out why anyone would care what I wrote, or if I’d even be able to keep up any sort of reasonable pace.  Yet here I am, once again with a blog.  What exactly has gotten into me? 

One of the 7th grade English teachers where I work has incorporated blogs into her biography unit.  The students are to blog as if they are the person they are learning about.  This struck me as a really neat assignment, maybe because the 1968 Democratic Convention was still months away when I was in 7th grade.  This is also where my darling kids tell me how old I am.  So if a bunch of twelve year olds can do it about a bunch of people they didn’t even know existed a week ago, I thought I’d give it another try.  Now if only I could come up with a good angle and a way to make so few words look like a lot more!

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