I heard something really sad the other day

[proud2BlibKansan]

I was at a workshop and we were talking about (what else?) testing and data. And the presenter said "If you are testing spelling by calling out a list of words once a week and having the kids write them down letter by letter, that isn't testing spelling. How is spelling tested on the state test?"

And several of the smart well behaved teachers said "It's multiple choice! They have to pick the word that is spelled WRONG!"

And the presenter said "YES! That's right. Now how SHOULD you be testing spelling?"

I wanted to cry. I felt like I was the only teacher in the room who knew that making kids write words letter by letter IS spelling. Making them pick out the word that is spelled wrong is not spelling. Recognizing a word is spelled wrong is only part of the spelling process. Knowing how to spell that word letter by letter - THAT is spelling.

[Mind_your_head]

1. K & R - so THAT is how children begin to be "left behind"

I understood/knew they were, but just didn't know "how it was done".

Thanks for this!

[proud2BlibKansan]

4. This is just one small example.

We don't teach anymore. We test.

[Mind_your_head]

10. What is even more frightening......

One of my daughter's college suite-mate's last year (as an example) is such a dim-wit. She's an elementary ed major from a "good college"....she'll probably land a teaching job somewhere and all I can say is, "SHE IS CLUELESS" (nice, but TOTALLY CLUELESS). She will make a good little automaton 'for the system'.

Kudos to those of you who REALLY TEACH/share your knowledge with others. In the end, you are/will be trusted, because you have proven yourselves to be faithful/trustworthy (not perfect).

Ya can't fake it. And people mostly "see".

[proud2BlibKansan]

13. There are dim-wits in med school too

Dim-witedness isn't exclusive to teaching.

[roguevalley]

18. agreed, OP. No one wants to do the hard work of repetitions and

practice. HOW IN THE HELL IS FINDING THE ONE SPELLED WRONG HELPING YOU SPELL RIGHT?!?!

Given that scores have tanked since practices have changed, you would think they would
get it but teaching is hard work, damned hard work and few want to do it anymore. Dinosaurs
like me can hardly take the stupidity of sitting there and listening to stupid crap. I had
to retire. Couldn't take it anymore.

[Skeeve]

2. I agree

That's not spelling OR teaching.

Lazy.

[proud2BlibKansan]

3. But it is how they are tested

And we teachers have no control over how they are tested. We just get to watch them being left behind.

[woodsprite]

5. My son is 9yo and has had his first real spelling tests now in 4th grade.

He was in special reading groups the earlier years and spelling was not stressed or tests given to these students. It really ticked me off, so we worked on it as part of his weekly work at home. His grade last week was a 93 :) He was soooo proud! This week they have their standardized testing for 4th grade on Science and Social Studies. He asked how he could be tested on 4th grade stuff he hasn't learned yet. His teacher called home to us to ask us to reinforce that it's really covering stuff from last year. She didn't want any of the kids to experience undue stress.

A lot of his work during the earlier years was exactly that - find the misspelled word or correct the punctuation -- it was essentially proofreading skills.

[Robb]

6. Och. Unless our goal is a nation of proofreaders, that's a sad, sad story. nt

[GMA]

7. That's not only sad,

it's appalling...

[proud2BlibKansan]

15. It's education under No Child Left Behind

And yes, that is appalling.

[Horse with no Name]

8. I never thought we would be "the lucky ones"...you know

the literate ones?
A friend was steaming mad the other day because her 3rd grade son came home. They are just learning cursive writing--letter by letter--and then one of his other teachers told him they HAVE to submit their work in cursive--but they are only up to the capital letter "H".
How do you live up to those expectations?
Mom and son are extremely frustrated because he was given a failing grade on his assignment.:(

[Just-plain-Kathy]

9. My daughter's teacher had a great idea. He would dictate sentences using the spelling words

along with past spelling words. Grammar would count along with using capitals when needed.

If a child got any word wrong within the sentence, they would have to write the whole sentence five times each.

When studying spelling with my children when they were younger, I would pre-test them. They would have to get five 100's before they could leave the table.

I know that sounds strict, but I would make it fun. I would do silly things like promising and doing my version of the Irish Jig whenever they hit a 100.

[proud2BlibKansan]

14. Yes that sounds like a great idea but that isn't testing spelling either

It's testing grammar.

But it is more rigorous than just picking out the word that is spelled wrong.

[Buzz Clik]

11. So much wrong with that.

I suppose he's convinced that learning how to guess math answers on a multiple choice test is also the way to teach math.

[Thickasabrick]

12. You sound like a great teacher....thank you for your contribution.

:hi: Maybe you can find a way to influence the "smart well behaved teachers".

[file83]

16. I'm sure those kids would do just GREAT at a spelling-bee

:sarcasm:
KID: "OXYMORON - may I have the list of spellings so I may choose the right one?"

Judges: ".....!!!?? No, you need to spell the word."

KID: "What do you mean?"

Judges: "Spell the word letter by letter."

KID: *begins crying* "This isn't fair, I've never been asked to spell a word before!"

Judges: "Who left this child behind?"

[truedelphi]

17. Didn't it all start under the regime of that

One smirking guy - ya know the one.

He wanted at least one person in each household to be putting food on their family?

[eppur_se_muova]

19. He's plain and simply WRONG. That IS testing spelling.

Spotting a misspelled word is more pattern matching and deduction (process of elimination) than anything. Has only restricted usefulness in the real world.

[proud2BlibKansan]

20. But it's very useful in teaching kids to take a test

:)

[eppur_se_muova]

21. Yes, so *obviously* a useful job skill.

:sarcasm: <-- directed at the anal retentive authoritarian control freaks who are pushing this stuff, not proud2BlibKansan.

[LWolf]

22. When I worked in CA,

I used to complain vociferously about that part of the state testing.

Not that anyone cared.

In my current state, standardized tests are given for reading. There is no spelling, grammar, etc. included.

Those things are scored on the state writing exam given at 4th, 7th, and 10th grades.

[proud2BlibKansan]

24. We don't test reading well either

The kids read a short paragraph on line and answer one multiple choice question. Then they read another paragraph. And on and on. When they are finished they are given a 3 digit score that correlates to a grade level proficiency.

They are never asked to analyze the characters or give the main idea or make predictions or write a summary of the plot. There are a few inference questions but most are detail questions. Simple recall. It's a really bad test.

[LWolf]

25. Our reading test is better than that,

but no multiple-choice test can adequately measure most things beyond literal comprehension or re-telling.

One of the downfalls is that I get 6th graders who have never done anything BUT retell or summarize.

Their condition coming in to 6th grade was succinctly summed up by one of my students when I met with a small group last week to discuss their reading. He said, "But we don't THINK about it. We just read!"

At which point, I had to gently enlighten them; if they aren't thinking, it's not reading.

[AwakeAtLast]

23. Picking out the incorrectly spelled word is PROOFREADING!

Incidentally, my 2nd grader has to do both. :hide: