May 27, 2014

Rafe talks a lot about standardized testing and how it is not the best way to measure students' success. He says it is important to let students know that not performing well on a test is not the end of the world. He also says it is very important for parents and other teachers to never compare one student's test scores to another. Every student is different and it is not fair to compare them this way. Some students are very smart, but become nervous when it comes to taking tests and therefore their scores do not reflect their actual abilities. I was shocked when he said that the students spend two weeks at the end of the year taking standardized tests. That it way too long to be sitting in a classroom testing especially at the end of the year, I do not think this is fair to students at all. Even though Rafe hates standardized testing he gives his students the tools and methods necessary to perform well. One thing that stuck in my mind is when Rafe was talking to one of his students and he asked if he was going to listen to music when he studied. The student answered no because there would not be music playing while he was taking the test. I always listen to music while I am studying and I was never told not to. It makes sense why you shouldn't! I also loved how Rafe's students knew both the correct answer to the math answers and the wrong answers that would probably be put on the test. That is such a valuable lesson to students, and I also like how they have to explain why they chose a certain answer and why they didn't choose others. This causes students to slow down when they are taking tests and make sure they aren't making any silly mistakes that could have been avoided.

The game table points also really stood out to me. I don't remember ever learning geography, besides the basic continents and oceans, even in high school and still to this day struggle with it. I think it is very important for students to learn this information and Rafe makes it fun by making it into a friendly game. He also gives a great idea for parents. There is a book you can purchase that kids can take to national parks and each time they visit they get a stamp and there is information about each park provided in the book. This would be one way for a family to take a fun but educational vacation.

It shocked me to learn that science sometimes doesn't get taught at all in elementary school. Science was my favorite subject growing up and it upsets me to know that some students are not being taught it. Although it can be time consuming and expensive it is still very important. Rafe has a great idea that instead of his students getting him Christmas presents they can make donations to the class so he can buy science supplies. This way he can slowly build up his supplies and do more and more experiments with his classes. The parents are more than happy to help because they know it is benefiting their children.

It is important for Rafe to communicate with the families of his students so that they can continue to grow and make the classroom better. If Rafe has the support of the parents it will make it so much easier to get the supplies he needs to make his classroom even better.