Playing the middle game. Well, I’m trying anyway. I’m cast about by competing currents, and this time of year, though I fervently swim away from it most days, the state test (Smarter Balanced Assessment) pulls, a vortex sucking me into the middle.

As most of my readers know, I harbor no love for standardization. I think our current, now-decades-long obsession with standardized testing has been a plague on learning, a blight on the dignity and humanity of our young.

And though I daily fight it in principle and practice in the 180 classroom, I never fully win the battle. Goliath will not fall, so I yield to my formidable foe. Love it or hate it–I hate it–standardized testing still stands firm, and though I hear hints of change on the horizon (de-linking it from HS grad requirement here in Washington State), it’s still a reality. So, I have to deal with it.

This year, feeling a little friskier than usual, I am going to game the game a bit, and I am going to tell my kids just that. It’ll go something like this.

“I am going to teach you how to play the game of standardization. I am going to put a bunch of stuff in your short-term memory that will likely show up on the Computer Adaptive Test (CAT), so you can dump it there and the state can give you a gold star. (Okay, that was maybe a bit snarky). I am sorry that you have to have your dignity and humanity reduced to a number this spring. But it’s the game we have to play, so play we will.”

Am I selling out? That’s the question isn’t it? Keeps me up at night. Vexes me. But wait, before you unsubscribe or unfollow me and hang charlatan around my neck, let me explain.

I am only devoting 7 strict minutes to this, four days a week. We will do it right after Smiles and Frowns. And my aim is not to drill and kill. I am not that big a sellout. Learning still matters. Always matters. I am just trying to create anchors in my kids’ brains, using an introduction/application model. Yesterday, I introduced parallel structure, a perennial guest on the SBA. But I didn’t even say “parallel structure” till the very end. This was the basic approach.

I asked kids to examine four sentences that I had written on the board, 2 with parallel structures, 2 with non-parallel structures. I asked them to just share what they noticed.

Kids discovered that their ears were helpful. “It doesn’t sound right.”

Kids discovered that there were inconsistencies in the non-parallel.

I then asked them to complete a 4 problem multiple choice exercise, which asked them to choose the element that correctly completed the sentence. They then compared with a neighbor. As a full class, we quickly discussed the what and why of each–leaning on sound and consistency for the “why.”

Finally, I turned their attention to two sets of lines on the board: one set parallel and one set with a line that took a left turn at its middle. They discovered that the set on the right was parallel, consistent. And the set on the left was not parallel, inconsistent.

I said and wrote above the sets of lines. “You just learned about parallel structure.” The anchor: when consistency takes a left turn we have a parallel problem.

Of course, I know better than to think that I just magically and permanently attached “parallel structure” to 148 brains yesterday, but I tried–in earnest–to play the game with them in as dignified, respectful manner as I could until I find a better way to do it.

Am I selling out by acknowledging and bending to the will of the test? Maybe. But it pulls, and when it pulls at my kids, I get sucked in. It sucks.

Today’s Trail

Along today’s trail we will experience…

…connecting through Smiles and Frowns.

…playing the standardization game (continuing with parallel structure).

…considering nature v. nurture with a clip on epigenetics and a Calvin and Hobbes cartoon.

…reflecting in our Journey Journals.

…hearing a Sappy Sy Rhyme.

Happy Wednesday, all.

Do. Reflect. Do Better.