digital post #1

The chapter this week was all about lesson plans, and how to use technology to develop, and enhance a lesson plan. The first topic that I would like to focus on would be, Academic Content (What to Teach). This section of the chapter briefly mentions, state and national standards that must be taught in schools; helping to answer the question, what to teach. What it continues to discuss is, digital content on the internet that can help when creating a lesson plan. I have used C-Palms to evaluate lesson plans for a previous class. C-Palms is an excellent site, it gives you options for exceptionalities, for gifted, students that speak different languages, and even gives you the standard it focuses on.

My second focus for this week is going to be, Test Assessments. The book separates this topic into two different categories, Norm-reference tests, and Criterion-reference tests. Norm-reference test, try to compare the abilities of students in the same grade level. They are normally graded on a bell curve; with a percentage of students scoring well, and a percentage scoring not so well. An example of a Norm-reference test would be an IQ Test. A Criterion-reference test, tries to test the ability of a student in a specific subject. Normally, these test are not graded on a curve, they are meant to test the a students understanding on a certain subject; rather than comparing them to other students. An example of a Criterion-reference test would be a spelling test.

The final focus in this weeks chapter is, New Approaches to Assessment. This section of the chapter discusses the role that standardized has take in education. The tone of the text suggests that the author might agree that, we teach our students around a test; rather than testing our students on what we teach. Personally, I understand both sides. There needs to be guidelines as to what is being taught to students, but at the same time a teacher should have room to teach miscellaneous material, that the teacher considers important.