C4T Summary #2

Bill Genereux, an Associate Professor of Computer Systems Technology at Kansas State University at Salina, writes a blog about intertwining technology with the arts and education. In his post, Pineapples don't have sleeves, He discusses the problem of poorly written questions in standardized testing. The questions are ambiguous and often confusing to the students they are supposed to be geared towards. The problem here is not only the questions, but the tests themselves. He mentioned reviewing a practice standardized test that his daughter did in class and talked about one of the ineffective questions. I am more concerned with the fact that teachers must take valuable learning time to teach students how to pass standardized tests.

Don't Know How really hit home for me. Genereux addresses not attempting new things because you don't know how. I have had problems in the past with this solely because of pride. I don't want to be wrong, so if I don't know how to do something I'll probably avoid it. Obviously this is a problem I am trying to overcome. I have to constantly remind myself, "What's the worst that could happen?", and try new things. He talks about computer technology and how it is always evolving, making it necessary to learn as you go. As educators, we cannot be afraid of not knowing. We have to use the tools we have to find out!