Classroom Challenges a la 2015

The topic, Classroom Challenges, has a potentially long list. The varied school types, teaching approaches, and contemporary educational issues could provide blog content for a very long time, agreed?

Earlier in my career, when the Internet was still driven by only a few and remained a mystery to most, the number of square feet in my assigned room divided by the available desks and chairs times the number of enrolled students...these were the classroom challenges.

Late in summer, when I rolled down the carts from the storeroom and set out my allotted grammar and literature books, patched up the worn bindings and wondered where textbooks numbered 332 through 336 had disappeared...these were classroom challenges.

The years I was assigned to an outside classroom, a "portable," brought in to accommodate the bulge in student populations were challenging indeed. I wondered how to move notebooks, textbooks, teaching aids, and myself (with favorite pen and hot cup of coffee) out of the building in bad weather for one period and then back to my main classroom in a 4 minute passing time every day.

What are the new challenges for teachers when this topic comes up in staff lounges, school hallways, and  private dinner tables?

Let me share just a small partial list:

• Enough per pupil funding still coming into the schools instead of being siphoned for "those charters"
• Aforementioned funding being used for "the right things"
• Enough computers available for classrooms and students
• Amended: enough working computers available for classrooms and students
• Subtopic: an IT-savvy person (not just a helpful, self-appointed tech expert) to keep computers, networks, all peripherals working
• Adequate training and time to make sure teachers can use technology to their advantage
• Adequate time and training to insure students are using tech as more than an educational babysitter

Overheard repeatedly: "Anyone know the name of that app that makes slide presentations more interesting? (SlideShare, Canva, Prezi, more)

Better yet, "Are there apps which will take my current slides and bring them to life so I don't have to recreate my static presentations?" (refer to previous sentence)

The Computerized Testing Challenge

Add to all these challenges an important and relatively new fact. For the upcoming testing season (strange how "one test for understanding" is now known as a "season"), the tests are delivered online. And yes, schools were given a buffer year - they could opt to take paper tests one more year. But the inevitable is on the horizon: schools need to provide the hardware, expertise, extensive allotted time for preparation and practice and test-taking if their students are going to be successful.



A behind-the-scenes look:

If a school is going to use online test delivery, all computers need to be networked, connected to the right software, meet the list of technical requirements, have protected connections for security and durability (read: won't be compromised or "go down" in the middle of the extensive testing process).

All teachers and test proctors (and yes, not all proctors are teachers but all teachers are proctors) need to be trained, outside of classroom time, in what part they will play. The testing manual is thick and filled with those actions which could invalidate the testing process or test scores.

Did you know that students must handle the entire process without the teachers helping in any way?
They must turn on the computer, navigate to the proper log-in screen, use their individual log-in test code/password without error, and begin and end every test completely without any intervention of a teacher. Maybe older students, but lower elementary age? To put it differently, unless the student has a verifiable need for accommodation such as a reader or scribe, no teacher in the state can read a word or direction on screen, assist with a log-in, or even look at a computer screen when a student's test is in process.

Have you ever heard of the term or acronym "JIT?" "Just in Time." We aren't supposed to know that even today, as students are relaxing for President's Day before the testing storm begins, behind the scenes test questions are not complete. Uploading and networking are not complete. Drive by your local schools when you are out today - are there cars in the parking lot, more cars than usual for a much-enjoyed holiday? We can guess what they are doing. PARCC knows what they are doing. School administrators know what is happening because they are also there. Readiness isn't just a word for student preparedness; it is for the schools and teachers too.

So, what's the point? Will all this preparation, expectation, testing fear and delivery really tell the true story of the students' ability to excel? Will these tests tell us what they know, any more than the in-classroom quizzes, verbal assessments, practice tests, pre-tests and post-tests for the school year so a school can validate its existence to all stakeholders, especially the ones who send the checks?

I don't have to be in the halls of a school to know there are massive incentives happening to make sure students show up for the tests. Come every day and your name is in the drawing for an ipad or a movie day or a free homework day. Don't show up and in addition to all other duties, teachers are charged with becoming stalkers for their students - the children simply need to test. Now, Completely. To serve the greater good.

What, not for their own good? Only tangentially. You see, after all this preparation, angst, exploited teaching time, schools can not expect to receive scores until the start of the next school year.

Many more subsidiary topics can and will emerge here, but have I started the conversation? Teachers, parents, administrators, you need to be talking about the deep and important topics. Keep that conversation going about concerns for the amount of time used by your schools on test preparation and then testing, testing, testing.

The biggest challenge? Teachers who trained to teach are allowed to do just that every day a child walks into their classroom. Applauding a child's efforts to turn on the computer, log in properly, and answer yet another battery of questions is not covered as a mandated teaching expectation in any university teaching curriculum of which I am aware.

Can I depend on you to pass this blog post around and join in the conversation? I welcome your voices, one and all. I want to see that blog counter do the jump jive today!