KALEIDOSCOPE

The end of the semester has come, and at the high school level, students are taking finals.  As I watch my students stress out over finals (They are worth 20% of the semester grade.), I wonder why we give finals.

Let me put the equation to you as it stands where I teach and have taught.  First, you teach the material and assess understanding with essays (I teach English / Language Arts), projects, and possibly a test.  Then, you move on to unit two.  Again, you teach the material and assess understanding.  Finally, the semester ends and the district expects students to take a final for each and every course that they are taking.  

The final, in one district where I taught, consisted of at least one question for each piece of literature covered in the course.  Yes, that means if you covered twenty poems, there must be at least one question for each of those poems.  In that district, everyone teaching the same course was expected to give the same final.  

In the second district, each teacher was left to develop a final for the courses that they taught independent of the other teachers who taught the same course.  Some teachers chose to compile all of the questions from all of the unit tests and call that a final; while others randomly selected numerous questions from prior tests.  Either way, the students were just taking the same test a second time.  

If teachers are going to be expected to give finals and students are going to be expected to take finals, the final exam should measure something more than can the student “regurgitate” the same answers to the multiple choice questions that have already been covered.

As a high school English / language arts  teacher, I think some revisions need to be made in the way we look at assessing a students gained knowledge for the semester.  If the above examples are how you address a final exam, I challenge you to try something different.  Look at the skills you are teaching and use a new literary piece or excerpts from literary pieces and ask the students to analyze these pieces.  In other words, expect the student use the skills that were presented with material that was not covered: teaching dynamic characters and reading a new short fiction piece to determine if the protagonist was dynamic, teaching meter in poetry and working to identify the meter in a new piece of poetry, or teaching subject / verb agreement and using different examples in the test.  Right now, for most of us, the semester final is a “regurgitation” of the same answers to the same questions.  Take the challenge! Expect your students to apply the skills you teach.

Ok! It’s supper time and I have no clue what to fix, nor did I create my weekly menus so I could pick up any ingredients for specific meals.  Thus, it was what might I have the ingredients for and what could I substitute for missing items.  I had in mind a skillet meal that I had found in a recipe magazine, but, of course, do you think I could find the magazine, let alone the page?  NO!  So, time to be creative.  I decided to call this Pantry Hot Dish since I raided the pantry for ideas.  I thought it turned out great, but when my hubby came home and tried it and called it a “keeper,” I knew it was good.  

PANTRY HOT DISH

1 pound ground beef

1/4 - 1/2 cup chopped onion

a spoonful of jarred chopped garlic

1 - 2 tsp Italian seasoning

1 (11.5) oz can V8

1 (10) oz can diced tomatos with green chilies

2 cups uncooked pasta (use the shape of choice)

1/4 - 1/2 cup salsa

4 (or more) oz shredded co-jack cheese

Brown the ground beef, onion, garlic, and Italian seasoning.  Drain.  Add the can of tomatos with chilies, V8, and salsa.  Carefully mix in the uncooked pasta. (The pasta will absorb the extra liquid from the tomatos, V8, and salsa.)  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to medium and cover and simer for 15 - 20 minutes or until pasta is al dente.  Sprinkle with the cheese and serve.

As the clock ticks slowly to midnight, there is time for reflection on the past year.  2008 was a difficult year for many.  Financially, I am grateful that both my husband and I are still employed.  As a veteran teacher, I can, for the most part, feel assured that I will have a job; however, who knows what will happen if this year’s “apples” don’t score higher than last year’s “oranges.”  NCLB my have our school restructured.  My children and my step-children are healthy, and as far as I know, so is my step-grandson.  My mother, age 79 this year, has regained her freedom since her significant other passed away.  (He had dimensia and as of November 2007 could not be left alone at home.  His children helped grudgingly.)  Now, my mom has re-established herself in community groups and church organizations, and she has begun to travel again.

As for those New Year’s resolutions that I made last year, I have not accomplished them.  I have, however, made strides toward seeing the goals I set accomplished.

The musings have now come to an end because  it is time to pop the cork on the champagne, ring in the new year, and determine what I want to accomplish in 2009.