Ozy and Millie
Wisdom for short attention spans.
Over at my home station:
- The gay unicorn agenda July 26, 2017Did you catch the reveal of Max’s parents in this week’s strips? I’ve actually known all along that Max has lesbian parents. I’ve been waiting for years for it to come up organically. And it actually did in the forthcoming Phoebe and Her Unicorn In: The Magic Storm, which is due out in October. So […]Dana Simpson
- School Library Journal June 28, 2017SLJ’s Brigid Alverson interviewed me for a great article about LGBTQ representation in comics. I’m quoted in the article, but I said a lot more, and apparently it was interesting enough that she also published the whole interview. Read more →Dana Simpson
- I am a geek and these are my secret loves June 27, 2017I contributed a story to Dark Horse Comics’s The Secret Loves of Geeks. Some other amazing contributors, too. Check it out. Read more →Dana Simpson
- Music Monday April 17, 2017Scandanavia does many things well. Including songs. Read more →Dana Simpson
- Unicorn Crossing March 29, 2017Hooray! New book! Read more →Dana Simpson
- There’s No Place Like Home February 28, 2017I’m headed back to Seattle, land of my youth. And my early adulthood. And my early middle adulthood. Look for me at Emerald City comic con this weekend! Booth 512. The Collapsar booth. (Collapsar is a loose group of people I’ve been splitting an ECCC booth with for several years.)Â Read more →Dana Simpson
- Music Monday December 12, 2016I’m pretty sure I’m stealing that tradition from someone. Possible Atrios? I’m too lazy to check. This is my favorite REM song. Read more →Dana Simpson
- Friday Cat Blogging November 25, 2016Me: Hey, look how Sofia’s posed on the landing! It’s a perfect photo opportunity! *grabs phone, lines up shot* Sofia: Took too long! You snooze you lose. Read more →Dana Simpson
- At the end of the tour November 21, 2016Three weeks. Like 16 elementary schools and some bookstores too, from south of LA all the way up to Portland. And I met a LOT of incredible kids, and adults too. I’m still processing it all…thanks, everybody. Read more →Dana Simpson
- Upcoming appearances October 29, 2016As you can see on the left side of this page, I’ve got a couple bookstore appearances coming up. If you’re in the San Francisco Bay area or near Portland, Oregon, come out and see me! Read more →Dana Simpson
“Accountability”, no. But how about “The school needs to be held accountable if it doesn’t reach certain standards, which are determined through the use of standardized tests.”
It’s not that hard. Once again, it refers to the SCHOOL, not the students.
They may be *attempting* to test the school, but administering tests to the school’s students mostly measures the student body’s collective willingness and/or capacity to learn/remember/guess information about a subject. It measures both of these things far more accurately than it measures any instructors’ ability to *teach* to standards.
Obviously, in any standardized test pool (especially in one as big as the nation) the test results are going to be all over the place. No two students’ interests are exactly alike, and some kids have longer attention spans for certain subjects than for others. Some people simply have and maintain 0% interest in academic subjects throughout their lives; there is not much to be done about this.
You cannot, in any way, limit a student’s personal range of interests to only what is presented in the classroom – and it is natural for people to daydream and tune out the things in their lives that seem exceptionally drab and boring to them.
Education is participatory, mostly on the part of the student; the teacher can only do so much. You cannot either simply drag a person out of bed unpleasantly early, every day, over roughly 3/12 of their lives, and then expect them to be willing or excited to consume every bit of information slung at them willy-nilly (not that teaching isn’t methodical, but learning typically isn’t).
You most certainly can’t expect them to remember it all, and you especially cannot expect them to desire to learn it from someone they *hate*. Standardized testing reinforces dislike of the person giving the test, because it is inherently boring, routine, mechanical and unpleasant (it doesn’t do too well at maintaining a students’ opinion of a teacher whose instruction they happen to enjoy, either).
I am not trying to excuse those teachers who are incompetent to teach, but you cannot look only at the instructional side of the equation, and you cannot discriminate between the competent and incompetent teachers, if their students are equally unwilling to learn.
Woah, so if all the students conspire to do really badly, the school will be ruined. Thank the powers that be for nerds.
The principal’s office is back in room “404” now, after having briefly been “204.”
Too bad there was not a thought balloon showing what her options were.