Brandi+Burton's+Page

**Brandi Burton's Blog/Discussion Page**

 * 8123- Supervision and Organization**
 * Brandi Burton**
 * Assignment Blog #1**


 * __Article: Common-Core Tests to Have Built-In Accommodations__**
 * __Author: Nirvi Shah__**

//This article was published online on June 3, 2011 and I retrieved it from Education Week online.//

I chose this article not only because I thought it was interesting, but extremely innovative as well. To think that someone has devised a way that they could administer a test to many many students simultaneously, but also meet their particular testing requirements, is amazing. Basically, the premise of the article is the idea that a common-core assessment will be created that students will take on the computer. Before they take the test, they will have the option to choose which type of learning disability they posses and the test will cater to their needs. For example, if it is a vision problem the test will automatically increase text size and magnify pictures or diagrams. If it is a disability that would be aided in changing the background color of the screen or highlighting certain words, the student will have that option. If a student has trouble focusing and they need a little something to keep them stay on task, background music can be arranged as well. It is really interesting to read the many ideas that they have thrown out. The best part about it is that since they will be on computers no one will know that anyone’s test will be any different. You can avoid the stigma or embarrassment that many special education kids feel about having to leave their classroom to take their tests. One more interesting detail that was mentioned was something that I had never really thought about. The fact that you may have a hearing impaired student that needs to have a test read to them. Well obviously they would need someone that could sign the information to them. The common-core assessment will also have a built-in avatar that can do just that. The avatar will sign all of the questions and answers so that the student may get the needed accommodation.

These tests are now being designed in a collaborated effort between two testing agencies: the SMARTER Balanced Assessment Consortium and the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC). These agencies are working with $360 million dollars in federal funds. The government expects them to have the tests ready for the 2014-2015 school year.

I think that while all of this sounds amazing, it is going to be a hard change to make. In my opinion, it will be hard for a kid to focus on a computer animated voice reading a test to them, rather than the teacher that they trust and rely on. I do think that it is a step in the right direction. Technology is taking over the world and we need to go with it, but I just think something like this will not be an easy transition. At the end of the article a principal was quoted by making the following statement. “We’re stuck with assessments. If you can make them the best possible way for students to show us what they know I will go to the ends of the Earth to find that best assessment.” I think that is a great attitude.


 * Assignment Blog#2**

[] //This article was published on June 15, 2011 and I retrieved it from Education Week online.// I selected this article because it was speaking of gifted education. I have loved being a teacher for the past eight years, but the three that I have worked in the gifted classroom have been so fulfilling. This article was short, but to the point. The main idea of this article is basically stating that all gifted children are different and we have to take them one at a time and figure out the best way that they will learn. Although gifted children are bright, you are not going to put 20 in a room to listen to a lecture and expect them all to learn from it. Gifted children are just like regular children in the sense that they still learn in many different ways. I used to do an activity in my classroom and get the students to classify themselves in the catagories of Gardner's Multiple Intelligences. They would tell what catagory they learned the best in, then they would teach me something in that way. For example, if a student learned by physical activity they would actually show me how something is done. If some were musical learners they may come up with a song to teach me something. Some might learn from just seeing pictures or diagrams. I had one student make a posterboard with removable numbers to show how to do exponential multiplication. It is all in the way it is presented to determine if the information is obtained.
 * Article:Unwrapping the Gifted: Harnessing High Potential**
 * Author: Tamra Fisher**

This article compaired gifted students to a new camera or television. You know when it comes to you that it can do so many things, but you have to figure out how to get the desired outcomes. Luckily, these electronics mentioned come with a learners manual so you can just cross-reference and find the information needed. Students do not come with a manual, however they do have a record or yearly folder. You can learn so much by looking back into what gifted students have done in the past. Maybe if they have certain patterns of good or bad progress you can detect it then go from there on how to help them. It is a very common misconception that all gifted kids are easy learners and high level performers. Many of the kids that I have taught in gifted have never been on the honor roll. Being gifted does not mean that learning is naturally easy. Yes, they do have high IQs, but they still have to figure out how to learn and do their work effectively.

Although this article was short, I liked the message. Working in the gifted classroom takes alot of creativity and patience. You have to allow the children to express themselves in a way that they are interested in that also does not deviate from the topic being learned. I liked to do alot of projects so that when the students think back to that topic years later, maybe they will link it to that project and remember what we learned. This type of teaching is not a possiblility in the regular classroom most of the time. So much variance and special treatment cannot exist, but if teachers can take the time to look into what makes their gifted kids tick then i think that they would be able to work with them and make their classroom experience highly successful!


 * Assignment Blog #3**

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 * Article: Has the Holy Grail of Adaptive Technology Been Discovered?**
 * This article was published online on MindShift.**

Again I selected an article that was based on technology. But I also has another reason for choosing this one. I have always wondered, as a teacher, what happens with children that recieve special education services in high school go on to college. They have become so accustomed to having their tests read to them, or being able to go to a trusted teachers classroom to take their exams. When they are put into freshman courses at college level that one on one time is no more. Most freshman courses can have up to 100 seats per class! So what happens when a struggling student starts the year out with no assistance in sight? That is what originally made me jump on this article.

The "holy grail of adaptive technology" that is spoken of will not only affect students that have special needs. This may change the way of learning for EVERYONE! The article suggests that in order for this to work, all students will take computer based tests. The software will be able to give a report on what types of questions the student missed, the ones they paused the longest on, and where they seemed to struggle. This would be amazing! Professors would be able to look at this data and see what areasthe students are struggling in and what needs to be covered and addressed more in class. They may also be able to pick out a student with a learning disability that they may could offer extra help to or reccomend someone that might could assist them.

Since all we hear about today at secondary level in THE TEST, they have now chosen to move some of those resources to postsecondary. The software is called the Knewton. It is envisioned that they will begin with two lower level math courses to see how effective the program is. These will be college algebra and colege mathematics. As of now four schools have been chosen to be the "piolot" schools for the program. These schools are Penn State, UNLV, the State University of New York, and Mount St. Mary's University. The knewton company has partnered with the Pearson textbook company to develop the curriculum.

I dont think that we can even fathom how huge of an advancement this will be. If the students and teachers will take the information that the Knewton software will calculate, I think that learning at the college level can be changed forever!