Back in the day, after I took a test and it was graded, I got my test paper back to see what questions I got wrong. It was part of the learning process.
It seems these days that Pearson doesn’t want the students or teachers to know what the questions are, therefore what questions each student needs to review and focus on to further educate themselves.
It has now gotten to the point where if ANYONE shares one question on the PARCC or SBAC tests, they are to be censored and threatened with legal action.
This is education?
An article was written by a teacher about the Common Core Standards PARCC test (the equivalent of the SBAC used in Washington State) and posted on the blog Outrage on the Page. It described the type of questions given, with examples of specific questions and critiqued each one superbly.
This story unfolds in a laundromat about 35 years ago. The text revolves around a girl named Brenda, her best friend, Lilia, and Lilia’s mother. Brenda is naive and curious. She wanted to learn how to talk in Spanish. The problem was that she thought she figured out how to say something new on Spanish, but she said it wrong. She overcame this by taking Spanish lessons. Readers learn that it is challenging to learn a second language and that it is ok to make mistakes.
It was a late Saturday afternoon when I went with Lilia and her mom to the laundromat. Over the past few months I had been learning Spanish with Lilia and her mother.
Of course I wanted to spend time with my best friend and the best thing a best friend would do is help her and her mother fold the clothes. I love folding towels.
On this day I found out the hard way that Lilia’s mom likes the towels folded differently than my family when I said the wrong thing to her mother.
“Así no,” her mother told me, as I made the last fold into thirds, showing me she wanted the last fold in half.
I felt so embarrassed so I told her, “Estoy embarazada.”
Puzzled, her mother turned to look at me. Lilia paused then laughed. Laughed real hard. Now, I was puzzled.
What did I do wrong? I knew that ‘estoy’ means ‘I am’ and I thought ’embarazada’ would mean embarrassed. Why not? I thought that any word in English could be said in Spanish if I added the letter A or O on the end.
“You just told my mom that you are pregnant!”
Every weekend from that late Saturday forward, Lilia wanted to spend time with her best friend, of course. And the best thing a best friend would do is teach her friend Spanish. And laugh when she said it all wrong.
I’m sitting here absolutely enjoying The Lego Movie. Constantly, I am bombarded with sparks of innovation. This movie provides so many examples of how I need to open the door wider for my students in the areas of the 4Cs.
Heather Nelson wrote in her online article about three innovation lessons based on The Lego Movie. This whole idea of innovation is not so new in education, yet it’s been overlooked for so long.
My current professional reading selection is The Innovator’s Mindset: Empower Learning, Unleash Talent, and Lead a Culture of Creativity written by George Couros.
I deeply desire to reach deep within me to enhance my teaching which will enrich my students’ educational experience. Last night, I was searching online for lists of supplies for maker spaces. It hit me when I saw on one list sewing needles, thread, material, and a sewing machine. A sewing machine? Those were in the home economics classes of years gone by. I have two sewing machines. Could it be possible for the girls in my class that expressed interest in fashion design to learn how to use the machines?
Thinking about inspirations for innovation, anything is possible.
With so many things pulling my attention in different directions, it’s easy to just not add one more thing. Yet to have a personal blog, is for me. To document my growth as a person.
bnvalencia 
