A,B,C or is it 1,2,3?

Elementary education has transformed into a school that has state testing, standards and not enough time in the day to fit in the hectic schedule. The report cards alone are 6 pages long, that covers every aspect of the student's personality, interpersonal skills, academic achievement and intra personal skills. I found the Tribune article to really divulge into what many elementary schools are facing. Expectations for administrators and teachers has increased yearly and students are supposed to achieve more in less school time. Having the standards based report cards allows parents to understand where they're son/daughter is progressing or needs assistance.

I think that letter grades has been part of the education system for so long that to eliminate it, parents and students alike would always do comparisons. It is a set standard, there is an achievement level and from receiving a certain letter grade there is an understanding of your educational progress. Using in NYC for cleanliness, is a way to uphold standards and sometimes public humiliation is the best way to make changes. I think that there should be a policy of minor changes to be allowed before the final grade is given. I thought that some restaurant owners made valid points that it may be a turn off to many people who would eat there, but it also implies that maybe some places have not holding themselves to the highest quality and many people may have eaten in places that are not sanitary.

I don't think that grades are necessarily important for the students, but the parents need to know where there child is and more emphasis needs to be put on education outside of the school. In Chapter 4 on cooperation vs. competition phases, elementary students are more in their cooperative phases which emphasis is on belonging and fun. Students need to be given opportunity to develop social skills with other student and to learn how to act in a social setting. I think that once students shift to the competitive phase that is when those grades really become more important because of the standard set by their peers and teachers.

Physical Therapy Licensure

The physical therapy license is one that I am familiar with because my sister just recently passed her exam and is now a practicing Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT). Very similar to the BAR exam for lawyers, physical therapists must choose which state they want to become licensed in. Reciprocity is not allowed and if they decide ever to practice in a different state a large fee is entailed.

The Federations of the State Boards of Physical Therapy, uses a computer test, which covers all aspects of the job including knowledge of rehabilitation of the body, understanding of the different systems within the body, working with different age groups, their job duties and government regulations as well as much more. The test is given through multiple choice and seem to prepared to deal with Bloom Taxonomies stage of application. Many of the questions were formed as if there was a patient in front of them explaining there pain and what muscles were being affected. While many of the choices to the questions had correct parts, the idea for this test was to choose the BEST answer. I believe that these types of questions there is very little room for error, the test taker must be confident in their decision. My understanding for why this test is given in multiple choice question form is that so much information has to be covered since it is a comprehensive cumulative test, there are over 300 questions. The shear preparation of the test and the amount of time it takes the tester to complete, is why MC was their best option.

Since the field of medicine and health sciences is constantly changing, the need for professional development and continuing education is required. DPT's & PT's are given a website that they can go on to test their knowledge, increase their competence and also stay connected with new research.

https://www.fsbpt.org/
http://www.op.nysed.gov/prof/pt/ptlic.htm

Current Events in Health

Current events especially in health are important to keep track of and also important for students to learn about. Within this section you can find information on new research that has just been released, watch epidemics and how these diseases are spreading and even as simple as how to properly apply sunscreen and what is the difference between SPF 100 & SPF 30. Current events are important for students to understand because there are usually other factors that have led to this article being printed and can open up a variety of conversations within the class.

If I was using a Current Event unit in my Health Education class I would have an instant activity in the beginning of each of the classes, students will write the titles of their articles on the whiteboard. From just the titles I want to see if students can guess what the article may be about and if there are any unknowns we will explore the current event as a class.

To open my class unit I would provide students with current events during different decades. Using information from the 60, 70s and 2000's I want students to understand if there are trends or cyclic fluctuations and the issues that public health are dealing with today. Added in this section would be the focus on current events, why it is important to stay up to date and the red flags that should be raised especially with new research that is being released. I will have students track a current event each day, write a brief reflection on each current event and each class students will be grouped to discuss their current events. Students will look for similarities in story lines, if any of the events are connected and how serious they believe the matter is. There will be a write up at the end of the group work and this will be used to assess whether or not students came prepared to class.

Within the middle of the unit I would have students get into a computer lab and we would explore the NYtimes.com together. Emphasis would be on headline news and also navigation through the website. A scavenger hunt would be used to make sure students could get to certain checkpoints and are searching the website correctly. I would also introduce RSS Feed and how that can be used for current events. I would have students explore other news sites (CNN, BBC, USAToday etc) and see if they have an RSS feed available. If students have their own homepage on their account I will have them add one RSS feed that covers health topics onto their webpage.

For the final project students will pretend that they are an editor at NYtimes.com in their health section and will take one of the current events that they found from the week and write a point of view article about it. Editorials will be provided from other websites regarding health as well as key ideas how to structure your editorial. This assessment will be based on their quality of work and understanding of the current event, not on their opinions or ideals.

How a little black dress and MCQ have more in common than you think

Multiple choice questions are like a little black dress; they are versatile. A little black dress does it all, slims your figure, appeals to all shapes and types of women and never goes out of style. Multiple choice questions have that same feeling of always being dependable.

Regardless of what grade or subject, multiple choice questions can be used for assessment. Similar to a black dress where you can dress it up with a pair of heels or make it casual with a pair of flats or flip flops. Multiple choice questions can be as simple or complex as you want them allowing students to analyze, discriminate or interpret a variety of concepts and information. Using it for assessment not only provides a valid test because it enables the teacher using multiple-choice items to test a broader sample of course content in a given amount of testing time. Consequently, the test scores will likely be more representative of the students’ overall achievement in the course (Burton, Sudweeks, Merrill & Wood, 1991).

As almost every women will say you can never have enough options. As beneficial as clothing or assessment options are, limitations are always possible and you must find what is suitable. Good multiple-choice test items are generally more difficult and
time-consuming to write than other types of test items. As versatile as they are, multiple choice questions cannot display thought processes, provide students opinions, produce original ideas and allow students to provide examples(Burton, Sudweeks, Merrill & Wood, 1991). Reliability is also effected due to that fact that guessing is still a viable option for students that may skew results.

Whether you're shopping for a special occasion or creating an assessment for the end of your unit, versatility and quality should always be part of the decision process. For the next assessment you are planning make sure that the questions you create have clear instructions, are complete sentences, emphasize higher level thinking and allow students to take the knowledge they have learned and apply it to a situation(BYU, 2001). Happy Shopping...I mean grading!

Why psychometrics matter to me

Psychometrics is an important measurement for teachers to understand and use because of personal traits that it measures. As a teacher we deal with human qualities everyday and in order to be an effective teacher we must understand psychometrics and how to use it to the best of our ability.This includes the measurement of knowledge, abilities, attitudes, and personality traits, most recently academic achievement. While measuring these different types of qualities the concepts that must be kept in mind are reliability and validity.

An important aspect to keep in mind is making sure your assessments are reliable and valid. In order for that to occur as the one assessing is the test retest method. Making sure that assessing and then reassessing will make sure that the results are reliable. Also using triangulation for data collection can also be an advantage.

As we continue to assess our classes and making sure that effective instruction and personal attributes are tested the quality of the test is what is most important. Psychometrics has given education based jobs and ability to understand others while maintaining a positive and effective environment

Don't be the "ass" in assessment

Reading the different types of assessment that my fellow educators did research on, I definitely had an initial understanding of each one and as advanced as assessment has become it is still done in a very traditional way.Research has been proven and with the help of the multiple intelligence theory, students learn different ways and although it is difficult to reach every student,teachers should stride to provide quality assessments throughout the school year.

Normative assessment in physical education is a recipe for disaster. Not all students have developed physically, mentally and emotionally in the same way, therefore how does one students success affect another's? I had an experience similar to that in high school when my teachers starting implementing grades.

I personally never had any issues with it because I loved PE and played sports throughout my high school career, but I watched a friend who was rather overweight and tried hard, but wasn't very coordinated. She received a low grade because she could not perform as well as the other girls in the class. She became withdrawn and stopped putting effort in class. It really became a wake up call for me once I got into college and started learning about assessment. I as a teacher do not ever want a student to feel inadequate when they walk into my physical education class and I want them to improve on their terms and in accordance to their ability.

When it comes to assessment, try different types and see what affects your students the most. It not only give you as the teacher feedback on if your instruction is effective, but gives you some insight into how you might improve overall fitness and skill development in your classes. Next time you start to assess your students make sure you are prepared and your students are prepared. Get creative, make it enjoyable, it doesn't need to feel like a test every time.

Gym Class vs. Physical Education

Gym Class, is a term that I and many physical educators cringe when we hear that name. That name gives the "roll out the ball" mentality, where only those who were coordinated and athletic survived and where many self esteems and identities were built up only to be torn down by peers and teachers alike. Physical Education for years never received the respect and is still being fought in be kept in many school districts throughout the country. There is one difference between gym class and PE which is: Assessment.

Assessment. One simple word that has so many meanings and understandings of it. I believe that assessment is an integral part of the curriculum and that from your use of assessments you can have an understanding of your students abilities and needs. Assessment drives your curriculum, drives your grading and also holds your PE program accountable. For years physical education was based on "effort", which is such a subjective term that making sure students were not only physically active but were given the tools to be active for their lifetime. Assessments in physical education is not only based on physical activity, but cognitive and affective assessments are just as important. Health body, mind and spirit is what I believe PE assessment is about and although it has received some resistance from communities, it should and will continue to be part of the new PE.