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1847. Ms. No - 3/30/2016 7:14:18 AM Films engage people on multiple levels, so they can be a great teaching tool as long as the kids discuss them after watching or have to write about what they learned.
I promised my kids today that I'd see if I can get hold of "Why We Fight" easily. I think I can even stream it on Netflix. If not, I can order the DVD in my queue.
Anyway, we got talking about something today and the Military Industrial Complex came up and I remembered the film. 1848. Trillium - 3/30/2016 4:22:20 PM If you're teaching Holocaust Studies through movies, "Auction of Souls" is intense Ethnic Horror.
"Auction of Souls"
This particular movie is interesting for several reasons, including the sponsorship it received at first. Eventually much of the movie was discarded/lost. Interesting that the issue nearly disappeared as a priority "...The initial New York performance of the silent film took place on February 16, 1919, in the ballroom of the Plaza Hotel, with society leaders, Mrs. Oliver Harriman and Mrs. George W. Vanderbilt..."
1849. arkymalarky - 3/30/2016 7:28:26 PM I use video in English and history, sometimes to expand on something, usually themes or character types, as opposed to directly dealing with what we studied. For Shakespeare, my fav is Brannagh's Henry V, but I broke my dvd and haven't been able to find another. 1850. arkymalarky - 3/30/2016 7:34:05 PM Vimeo has some really cool stuff, and I showed the kids a fantastic silent Movie of the telltale heart from 1923 Germany, if I recall. 1851. Ms. No - 3/30/2016 11:23:32 PM I do Brannagh's "Much Ado" and Zefferelli's "Hamlet" -- that's the one with Mel Gibson. I use it because Zefferelli rearranged the order of the initial scenes making it very easy to argue that Hamlet suffers from bi-polar disorder -- which falls in line with my integrated curriculum requirements. 1852. Ms. No - 3/30/2016 11:24:17 PM Trillian,
I'll point our World History teacher toward that resource. I bet he'll find it useful. 1853. arkymalarky - 3/30/2016 11:39:18 PM I used to do that hamlet. I do zeff r and j in 9th. 1854. arkymalarky - 4/16/2016 5:13:49 PM LOVE the ACT Aspire test. Much better design, more useful structure, truly longitudinal, projects as student move from grade to grade where they're headed on their actual ACT, which they get for free in the 11th grade. I really don't know why all states are not doing this. The kids tested 7 hours less this year than last year, and the information is way more valuable. It gives a much clearer picture of what the kids are able and unable to do as a group and as individuals moving through to the 11th grade ACT. And as the teacher test administrator, it's so much easier to administer, it's so much more practical in terms of Preparatory materials and testing materials, and I missed 3 days of class as opposed to 9. 1855. arkymalarky - 4/16/2016 5:15:36 PM In other less Pleasant news, all spring break I had a stupid sinus infection, I'm way behind, just got done with testing and trying to catch up, and now I have a stomach virus. I'm just posting this between my vomiting and diarrhea. Excuse the graphic description. So mad. 1856. arkymalarky - 4/16/2016 5:28:47 PM I'm so proud of my kids. They have been so cute and sweet and worked so hard, and we let them have the afternoon off and brought them snacks and they were just so cute enjoying their afternoon. I love my little cutie pies.
I really think that if States would shift to this program it would be much less soul crushing for kids, teachers and parents. Especially Elementary. I can't imagine how all the kids and parents and teachers feel in these schools that are in Arkansas given grades of F. We never show kids grades in public, but whole schools of kids and their teachers and parents are shamed like that in elementary schools. I'm not saying they shouldn't be rated, but there should be a way that doesn't punish poverty and shame people who have the guts to work in and attend poor school districts. And in Arkansas, a lot of the wealthier districts have D's and F's. That makes you wonder a lot about the whole system. The charter schools did horrendously. I told my principal that few good teachers want to teach for small, poor schools like we are, because they get rated badly and jumped on when they work hard, in addition to the low pay and lack of recognition when they scorecwell. But if they can get good teachers and leaders the schools do just as well as the others. We scored as well or better than our surrounding districts, and our Elementary School did better. 1857. arkymalarky - 4/16/2016 6:05:16 PM Looked at school grades and Stan's former school was one of two A's in the whole state of Arkansas high schools. 1858. arkymalarky - 4/16/2016 6:08:55 PM When Stan was there they were tied with Fayetteville scores in high school for first place. Rural school close to Hot Springs. Nothing distinguishing about it in terms of high-income the world Central locations or anything. Principal is a former coach stan and I worked with. 1859. Ms. No - 4/17/2016 3:05:50 AM I haven't had Juniors in so long I barely even remember the ACT. I'm glad it's getting better, though.
I've been on the committee evaluating the District Benchmarks that are being put together, and the more I see the INSPECT questions, the more I dislike them. They're modeled after the Smarter Balanced tests, so it isn't really INSPECTs fault. I just think the test writers are fucking morons.
The vast majority of the reading samples are deadly boring --- no kid, no where can scrape up two ounces of give-a-shit over most of the readings which means that there's less comprehension going on. Hell, I can barely figure out some of the bullshit they want. Then there's the item scoring.
If a test item asks you to highlight/underline/select the THREE different lines from the text that support a conclusion of X, then there ought to be 3 points granted for the answer and you get dinged for missing however many you miss.
Nope. These brilliant fuck-tards have determined that if you don't get all three correct, you lose the entire ONE point for that standard. In fact, you can get all three right, but if you step out of line by a single word, you get the question wrong.
How does that give any kind of accurate reading of a kids skills or proficiency on a given standard?
These so-called "data" buffoons need to take a long walk off a short pier. I swear, these tests are only better than the old Scantron jobbies in the hand-scored items.
Imagine that, the tests are most accurate when scored by a living, breathing human being -- the kids' teacher. The person who could've told you already whether or not and how well Johnny can read.
Sheesh.
/rant
Wow. I didn't know I had a rant bubbling up. I really just meant to say "Yay for you, Arky!" 1860. Ms. No - 4/17/2016 3:06:37 AM And I totally agree about the school-shaming.
If shame were a really useful tool for getting things done, nobody would be fat or have a messy house. 1861. arkymalarky - 4/17/2016 6:47:24 AM The ACT Aspire is our whole program replacing PARCC, grades 3-11, and it is light years better. The Other is truly awful, and only 7 States are still using it.
I liked our old benchmark test. I was on the state range finding committee for 8th open response, and it was as you say it should be. Age-appropriate and practically assessed. But with the Aspire system, all that is already baked in. I think the turnaround on results should be a lot faster, too. We got our PARCC results this Nov. Had they had enough brains to get and keep 50 States on board, I don't believe they could have gotten them in by this year at all. I loathe Pearson. Aspire uses their testing software, which did fine, as long as you looked to Aspire, not Pearson, for admin instructions and FAQs. 1862. arkymalarky - 4/17/2016 6:54:56 AM PARCC had mistakes, and we're so anal about their stupid test security it's almost impossible to address them. My sis-in-law did fifth grade last year and got in s lot of trouble because the kids were pointing out a major error and she looked at a kid's screen (not reading the question) in trying to report it. 1863. arkymalarky - 4/17/2016 2:44:51 PM One more thing about Aspire. You can tell I like it since I keep talking about it. Kids not only can see progress from year to year and whether they're improving, but every year they're also working toward a goal that's meaningful for their future academic success. This is something you need a translator to interpret for you. I never did understand what the parcc was supposed to be assessing, and I never did understand what the results were supposed to be showing in terms of the group of kids and the individual kids. I knew they tried to assess synthsis with three articles, and that my ninth graders beat the state and National averages, but those were only 37 and 39% respectively. 1864. arkymalarky - 4/17/2016 2:45:12 PM That right there indicates a poorly designed and essentially meaningless test. 1865. arkymalarky - 4/17/2016 2:46:10 PM PARCC is something you need a translator.... 1866. Ms. No - 4/25/2016 9:56:55 PM I must not slap a child....
I must not slap a child...
I must not slap a child...
I hate windy days. It makes the kids crazy and gets on my last nerve. I am so done with this year. I don't even want to teach the fun stuff at this point.
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