Learning is a part of everyday life. Whether it is discovering a new dance step for your Bharatanatyam class or practicing counting skills with a kindergartener, learning is achieved. The effects of learning on an individual are important for the development of children. But is the take on education being altered? How is the teaching in institutions preparing students for tests such as the SAT, if it is? In her article, “Accountable to Whom? Teacher Reflections on the Relationship between Creativity and Standardized Testing in Ontario,” Catherine Dishke – Hondzel talks about standardized testing using the perceptions of teachers to validate her idea. She uses eight teachers of the fifth, sixth and seventh grades to participate in a series of
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This statement is brought to the surface during the interviews with the teachers to get their feedback on it. She starts off her introduction by stating the credentials associated with standardized testing and the value they presume to have. She does this in order to bring in other opinions to oppose this system of education. For example, she cites a number of sources which criticize how associations by which the standardized tests are accompanied are essentially making schools teach based on test-taking skills rather than the creative side of learning (Firestone 2001; Fusarelli 2004; Ravitch 2010; Sacks 1999). She notes how this method of teaching consequently hinders the learning process of students, thereby neglecting their potential to contribute to society. Dishke – Hondzel brings up a new point, discussing the rates of cheating on such exams. The resolution to handle such events from happening is, according to the associations, to reward those institutions which promote the training for skilled test-taking. She writes “the problem with this process is that teachers may begin to divert time spent engaging in creative and abstract thought and teaching methods with students,” also driving home the issue that creativity in a classroom is diminishing. She recognizes this when she writes, “It has been hypothesized that these improvements happen due to the increased number of cognitive connections and associative networks that are developed when multiple ideas …show more content…
She writes “All of the teachers in this study indicated a general interest in fostering creativity in their students, and many indicated during the interview that they felt they used what they considered to be creative teaching methods” (Dishke 2014). This may have been seen as true for the specific standards looked at, but if the research was open to teachers of higher grade levels, like in high school, there could have been different results. The interviews were audio- recorded and then transferred into writing; the teachers’ true identities were not revealed. As a result of her research, Dishke found that,
Many teachers spoke specifically about the amount of time preparation for EQAO testing takes, and how preparation takes time away from classroom activities the teachers considered to be more meaningful, or that would allow students to engage in more in-depth forms of learning. Time, as a categorical theme, also refers to teachers’ perceived need to support creativity by engaging students in activities that require long periods of uninterrupted
This statement is brought to the surface during the interviews with the teachers to get their feedback on it. She starts off her introduction by stating the credentials associated with standardized testing and the value they presume to have. She does this in order to bring in other opinions to oppose this system of education. For example, she cites a number of sources which criticize how associations by which the standardized tests are accompanied are essentially making schools teach based on test-taking skills rather than the creative side of learning (Firestone 2001; Fusarelli 2004; Ravitch 2010; Sacks 1999). She notes how this method of teaching consequently hinders the learning process of students, thereby neglecting their potential to contribute to society. Dishke – Hondzel brings up a new point, discussing the rates of cheating on such exams. The resolution to handle such events from happening is, according to the associations, to reward those institutions which promote the training for skilled test-taking. She writes “the problem with this process is that teachers may begin to divert time spent engaging in creative and abstract thought and teaching methods with students,” also driving home the issue that creativity in a classroom is diminishing. She recognizes this when she writes, “It has been hypothesized that these improvements happen due to the increased number of cognitive connections and associative networks that are developed when multiple ideas …show more content…
She writes “All of the teachers in this study indicated a general interest in fostering creativity in their students, and many indicated during the interview that they felt they used what they considered to be creative teaching methods” (Dishke 2014). This may have been seen as true for the specific standards looked at, but if the research was open to teachers of higher grade levels, like in high school, there could have been different results. The interviews were audio- recorded and then transferred into writing; the teachers’ true identities were not revealed. As a result of her research, Dishke found that,
Many teachers spoke specifically about the amount of time preparation for EQAO testing takes, and how preparation takes time away from classroom activities the teachers considered to be more meaningful, or that would allow students to engage in more in-depth forms of learning. Time, as a categorical theme, also refers to teachers’ perceived need to support creativity by engaging students in activities that require long periods of uninterrupted