I have had the absolute privilege of meeting, living, and working with a phenomenal group of individuals who will be graduating from MTC and venturing into a future to which they will be an invaluable asset no matter what sector they choose. Specifically, I have the utmost gratitude for Anna Morrison, Crystal Stewart, and Kelsey Mayo, without which I would have given up all teaching aspirations and probably quit the program a long time ago.
Anna,
I cannot even begin to articulate the infinite ways in which you literally saved me this past summer. Your unyielding commitment to service, learning, and this program in its entirety is humbling and fueled by a passion that beautifully defines you. Whichever sector in life now receives you, will be inevitably blessed by your touch which I truly do believe turns everything into gold. ; )
Crystal,
Your team spirit mentality has been, on several occasions, my saving grace. From making sure that I was my physically and mentally adjusted to not only the program but to life in Mississippi, you invested in me entirely. You were always available for last-minute lesson planning ideas and resources. Then, even and especially during the time when I lost the support of the program itself, you continued to reach out to me through email, text, and phone calls in the exact ways that I needed to be encouraged. And for taking it upon yourself to be my unofficial mentor, I love and thank you! I consider myself infinitely blessed to have known you.
Kelsey,
You are the first person that I communicated with in MTC! Thank you for a year of guidance, reassurance, and straight-up constructive criticism. You handled every one of my questions, struggles, and failures with gentle honesty and optimism. After each one of debriefing sessions, I felt like I could breathe again, teach again, and fail again with the conviction that teaching is above all else a learning process that would be anything but stagnant as long as I allowed my failures to shape rather than hinder my growth. You are amazingly talented yet modest, and it has been the utmost privilege to know you.
In response to a writing prompt that asked students to describe what it is like to be in my Reading class, I received the following responses from some of my 8th grade students:
Student #1: "It is very fun to be in Ms. Albanese's class because we do fun group work. She teaches us stuff we do not know, she helps us when we don't understand something. Also, she lets us listen to music when we finish our work. Sometimes when we make good grades on our test she rewards us. That's why I like Ms. Albanese's class a lot."
Student #2: "This class is always hot, sometimes boring, but I like it because we have fun sometimes and my teacher is the nicest teacher I've ever met."
Student #3: "My reading class is a nice and friendly environment. Our teacher is very kind. She takes her time to make sure every student gets whatever she's teaching. My peers are nice and treat everyone with respect. My teacher keeps our classroom in tip-top shape just for us kids. These are some things about our classroom."
Student #4: "I think this class was fun this year. We get rewards sometimes. The teacher is awesome and can be very nice. The students are cool and fun. The class itself was very fun and interesting."
Student #5: "This class is a very nice class to be in. My classmates are very helpful people to be around. Ms. Albanese is a very nice and sweet teacher, but she does have a bad side. What I mean by that is when we don't listen to her, she is going to get mad."
Student #6:
"To be in Ms. Albanese's class is alright. She is a great teacher, but her other students act childish and immature."
Student # 7:
"To be in this class is fun. It is fun because there is not that many of us in here and my teacher makes the class fun. Sometimes she lets us have class outside. That's why I like this reading class a lot."
Student # 8: (A rap)
" This class is good
like it really should.
I do my work and pass my test.
I do so well cuz I do my best.
My teacher is great
Why do a lot of kids want to hate
Yeah, she is White
But she teach just right.
She makes our work fun
She even lets us work in the sun.
So come on and try it
You really can't deny it."
The circumstances under which the young girl mentioned in this article was strip-searched was nothing short of a complete and utter violation to her bodily privacy and physiological wellbeing. This is not to say that strip-searching is never a viable measure of action, but in this instance it had merely the most minimum basis and virtually no justification.
In this case, the primary reason for the victim's interrogation was the testimony of another student who claimed that she received ibuprofen from the said victim. While a questioning in some form may have been appropriate, the crude manner in which a full-out strip-search was performed was both assaulting and baseless.
The timing of this assignment ironically allowed me to juxtapose the circumstances of this article with the immediate reality of a drug bust at my school that occurred yesterday. The blatant difference is that the students made the marajuana pass (quite cluelessly) right in front of the teacher at which point she wisely did not buzz the office, but discretely sent a stapled note up to the office to alert the administration who required that all teachers hold their classes. After about 2 hours of holding classes, the police took the boys in custody, questioned them, and then and only then performed a partial strip search and total pat-down which revealed the substance in question. It is under these circumstances and by the professional protocol upheld by my co-workers and administration that I believe a strip-search is entirely more justified.
More than mere criteria for measuring a student's capacity to interpret and reciprocate, true accountability for content or skill acquisition is much more accurately assessed in performance - based or authentic assessments. If authentic assessments are defined as "an activity in which students construct responses, create products, or perform demonstrations to provide evidence of their knowledge and skills" (Hibbard, et al., 1996, p. 277 this method of assessment is more immediately effective if it mocks a real - world situation.
Statistically, when students who are taught using authentic assessment techniques are compared to students who are only traditionally assessed, the former have evidenced higher grades, test scores, aptitude for knowledge and less discipline problems. Above all else, an authentic assessment should accomplish just this, an authentic meaningful context for the assessment task, one that is based on real experience.
Currently, I use a balance of both traditional and alternative assessment. In culminating a poetry unit, I have already administered a formal assessment and we are currently working on a perfomance-based powerpoint presentation. In developing, administering, and evaluating this assessment, the rubric must remain the core focus. In developing the rubric a scoring device that lists the criteria in which the powerpoint project will be evaluated is absolutely essential. This rubric must distinguish between unsatisfactory, satisfactory, and excellent quality and addresses both content and presentation skills. The rubric component of the powerpoint project further enables students to grade themselves using the rubric prior to turning in their work. I believe that rubrics work best when they are appropriate for the task, easy to understand, and focused on the most important aspects of the project. When students understand my expectations, they can strive for quality and instantly evaluate their progress toward a set goal as they prepare their work.
