I was thinking about this topic this morning as I got dressed and drove to work.
A few years ago I attended a workshop or seminar about Cultural Differences in Teaching and Learning. At this workshop I was told and this is a very loose paraphrase that Black students need a CONNECTION to the material to fully learn it as well as they need to have a CONNECTION with the teacher whereas WHITE STUDENTS learn it to learn it. Meaning that I can stand on my head all day long and tell you Shakespeare wrote Romeo and Juliet but unless I provide some sort of CONNECTION to their life, it does not have the same amount of meaning. Not only that but kids can sense who is there for them, looking out for their best interest, etc. If I make learning tangible to their life experience, I am bound to have more impact and that shows in their academic performance.
I teach my kids in a nontraditional manner (to me) and I dang sure do not teach to the test because bottom line there is LIFE
after the test. That life for some is college. The little piddly poo tests they give here do not help our students prepare for college. Our students are not critical thinkers. These tests do not test critical thinking.
I have kids who swear they are the bomb writers because they scored a 4 on a writing sample.
I CAN'T TELL!!!
These kids (BLACK and WHITE) are horrible writers. HORRIBLE!!! TERRIBLE!! But because they took some writing sample that had to be scored in XYZ days by folks randomly hired who will get paid regardless who do not know my kids, they get a score that makes them think they are the next
Nikki Giovanni or
Langston Hughes.
Of course, tests results equal money. They have ALWAYS equaled money. Good scores on SATs = scholarship $$. Good scores on standardized tests = more money for school districts. Now that the money is tied to salaries and "merit bonuses" people wanna throw hissy fits.