Thought 7

Beyond the Bubble, Stanford History

In the video, Beyond the Bubble, the narrator begins by posing the thought, "Imagine life as a multiple-choice exam" (Stanford History, 2012). Automatically, one can see the issues and restraint with this 'way of life'. Therefore, the thought that multiple-choice assessments penalize kids through out of context questioning is easily supported by the listener. The narrator then goes a step further to gratify their claim of unfair assessment by introducing the concept on students being assessed on up to ten texts they have 'analyzed'. The narrator makes the argument that if the student does not know how to analyze a single text properly, how can it be appropriate to assess knowledge of analysis of multiple texts? The narrator answers their own question by introducing the Stanford Historical Education Group. SHEG suggests that students being able to reason through sources, as well as, critically examine texts is crucial to their learning. They provide ways of incorporating a mix of interactive scoring, short, written responses, and provide examples of student work. They believe what they have created is a new generation of history assessment, putting knowledge into action. The main goal of this assessment style is to assess and observe was students are really thinking.

What is a High School Literacy Specialist?, Tami R. Dean

In this article, the author, Tami R. Dean, explains what it is to be a high school literacy specialists. She describes how it is a widely misunderstood position due to people's preconceived notion that high schoolers are already proficient readers, writers, etc. In short, Ms. Dean defines the job as an educator who is dedicated to literacy needs of secondary students. Ms. Dean also argues the preconceived notion that high school teachers do not want to collaborate. She states that in her own personal experience she was seen the exact opposite; High school teachers being eager to come together to solve an issue a student may be having. She describes how secondary literacy specialists work across content areas, not just language arts/English. When working with students, the specialists model relevant and discipline-specific literacy strategies for not only the students, but the teacher as well. Specialists goal are to instruct students on navigating texts and drawing conclusions. To society, high school students are expected to be competent at analysis of different texts. If that skill is not mastered, it cannot be faked. It is also a goal of secondary specialists to draw literacy parallels between evidence and an argument.