Learning Out Loud

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21st Century Teaching

Posted by James Dittes on February 03, 2011

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Reflections on Testing: TNReady Round 1 for High Schools

It's been a busy break, and I haven't been able to blog.

There has been time for reflection, which I'm hoping will result in many cogent thoughts and account for my month-long break from blogging.

For the record, I have been an advocate for both testing and high standards. I have published views in favor of testing in the past, so I hope these thoughts aren't dismissed as a mere confirmation of opinions I had before Tennessee's first round of TNReady testing.

The GoalsTNReady lauched this year after the Tennessee state legislature elected not to go with PARCC testing as my state had planned to do when it adopted Common Core State Standards in 2009. Like the standards, the goal of testing was meant to ensure that students were college and career ready and an adequate measure of the new standards. (In 2013 and 2014 Tennessee had simply continued on with the previous contract that tested earlier standards.)

I was a TNCore coach this summer, so I felt confident in my k…

Teaching, flavored by Tiempo Libre and Arts Integration

The conductor of my church's choir waved a song to a stop last night.

"Someone is tapping a rhythm on the wood," he growled. "Stop it."

I looked around at the other members. They were seated on the carpeted platform. Innocent.

I looked down at my own feet and saw naked plywood. It was me!

That's when I realized the full impact of the Tiempo Libre concert I had attended with my students that morning. The group's smooth mix of Cuban rhythms, Salsa dances and musical virtuosity was still tip-tapping within me and working its way outside.

I hadn't been taught--I had been infected!

Take it from a teacher whose mantra is "learning out loud." That's quite an impressive feat of teaching.

The concert kicked off with a rhythm symphony. Lead singer, Xavier Mili tapped out a clave rhythm on a Güiro. He was soon joined by three conga drum players, each engaging the beat with a complex rhythm. A final touch came with rhythm from a drum set. So much was g…

Why Did Microsoft include games with Windows OS? A Teaching Moment

Solitaire has always been a part of my experience as a user of Windows. But I've never stopped to wonder why it has been included in every Windows machine I have owned.
Here are some possible explanations: Did Microsoft want to balance the time saved by using technology with time that we could waste with solitaire or Freecell or Minesweeper?Did they want to show how smart I am? (I mean, I'm really good at Freecell. I win half my games.)Did they want students to be able to show teachers 'I'm bored' or 'I'm not working on your assignment' without needing to raise their hands and actually say so?Did Bill Gates have so much money that he decided to give away games free?
Turns out there are specific reasons these games are on our computers--and all of them have to do with teaching.
As reported in Mental Floss last year, Microsoft had specific reasons for the games it released with Windows 3.1 in 1992 (my junior year in college when, incidentally, I was using …

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About James

James Dittes teaches English, German and creative writing at Station Camp High School in Gallatin, TN. He is a national fellow with America Achieves Fellowship for Teachers & Principals and a 2014-15 fellow with Teachers for Global Classrooms.

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James A Dittes