Lesson Plan Assessment Review...

This assignment asked us to "locate two lesson plans that you feel have a strong assessment component", and I confess that I struggled whether to look for lesson plans or assessment ideas.

Scholastic.com - From our Teaching Advisors: Assessing Students
I chose this because it seems to be a good resource for teachers needing lesson plans that will enable them to assess their students.  In particular, this link contains an article entitled, "Preparing High School Students for Standardized Exams", which should be of particular resonance for those of us expecting to teach in the state of Florida.

Discovery.com - Remediation for the 21st Century Student
As the description on the page reads: "Progress Zone combines diagnostic assessment with the power of Discovery Education’s educational videos to provide an item bank of over 60,000 items where educators can create, assign, and share assessments."


Again, that seems more like strictly assessment rather than a lesson plan to me, but hopefully it has some helpful aspects of both that prove useful.


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Assessment Links...

Below, as requested in my Integrating Technology into the Secondary Classroom course, are three links to websites about assessing learning:


http://www.readfaster.com/culturalliteracy/


http://americanculturalliteracy.com/


http://www.okcupid.com/tests/take?testid=11814840076670976351


Each of these links has different variations on tests for cultural literacy, with the first one, from www.readfaster.com containing tests in a great variety of subjects.  I chose these both because I've been fascinated (and tormented) by the idea of cultural literacy since I first heard about it in high school and because I feel that the idea is something I will readily be able to incorporate into a high school contemporary classroom discussion.


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Somebody (else) does it better...

Yesterday, on my Facebook page, I tried to be balanced as I attempted to makes of the awful tragedy in Arizona. As usual, there was some pretty heated debate and discussion, but in hindsight, I'm a bit ashamed at even hinting at linking what happened with something partisan.

Jon Stewart, however, was able to eloquently convey what I should have said. As compiled by Media Matters (link below):

On the January 10 broadcast of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, host Jon Stewart noted:

I do think it is important for us to watch our rhetoric. I do think it is a worthwhile goal not to conflate our political opponents with enemies. If for no other reason than to draw a better distinction between the manifestos of paranoid madmen and what passes for acceptable political and pundit speak. You know, it would really be nice if the ramblings of crazy people didn't in anyway resemble how we actually talk to each other on TV.

From The Daily Show with Jon Stewart:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Arizona Shootings Reaction
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog The Daily Show on Facebook

Stewart: "[I]t Would Really Be Nice If The Ramblings Of Crazy People Didn't...Resemble" Pundits On Cable | Media Matters for America

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Doing it, doing it, and doing it well...

The blog of Dave Chen has really given me a great deal of food for thought lately.  His posts have provoked thought and caused me to seek out background information on a variety of topics:


http://www.davechen.net/


As an example, a week or so ago, Chen posted briefly in disdain about the proposed abridged (or censored, depending on who you ask) version of Mark Twain's classic The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.  A publisher is replacing all 219 uses of the N-word with the word "slave", which Chen termed a victory for the "idiocracy":


http://www.davechen.net/2011/01/newsouth-is-removing-n-word-from.html


He also referenced the Twitter account of Scott Mendelson, from which he'd presumably culled news of the publisher's plan.  


After posting a brief reply on the blog post, I was able to reply to both Mendelson and Chen via Twitter and point out a differing view by Mary Elizabeth Williams of Salon.com.  Afterwards, I not only got a response from each of them but also enjoyed the continuation and deepening of the debate in a subsequent blog post by Chen.

In that post, Chen linked to the article by Williams, thanked me for pointing it out to him, and then Williams herself commented on the post as well:


http://www.davechen.net/2011/01/is-selectively-altering-great-works-of.html

The end result is that Twitter and blogging allowed me to contribute to a more informed, interactive debate that I think elevated the discussion.  The only reason I know of Chen's blog is through my consumption of the Slashfilm Podcast he co-hosts weekly about movies, which is yet another interesting way technology is allowing us to reach, learn and interact with and from each other.


Connect to me on Twitter @malikg