Student: I wasn't talking. I was stretching my mouth.
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Never End a Sentence with At.
This incorrect usage drives me crazy. To me "Where are you at?" sounds like fingernails on a chalkboard. And it's getting worse.
You may remember an English teacher telling you never to end a sentence with a preposition. That is the general rule because a preposition needs an object, and the object should come after the preposition. However, "The door through which I walked..." sounds funny. So we just say "The door I walked through...." The object of through is door. It's still there, just in a different place.
"Where are you at?" on the other hand has no object at all. The only pronoun (no nouns) is you, but that is the subject. It is perfectly sufficient to simply say "Where are you?" The at is not necessary grammatically or semantically, because where identifies that this is a question of location.
I have been hearing people use the incorrect form with increasing frequency. I hear it all the time from students. I've heard it from teachers and newscasters. This Sunday, I even heard it from my pastor. I do not understand why this phrasing has become popular and seemingly acceptable. Many changes in language come about through laziness. For example, we no longer pronounce the k in knight. However, that cannot explain this phenomenon, because people are actually adding a word. Hopefully this indicates that the trend will not be long-lived.
You may remember an English teacher telling you never to end a sentence with a preposition. That is the general rule because a preposition needs an object, and the object should come after the preposition. However, "The door through which I walked..." sounds funny. So we just say "The door I walked through...." The object of through is door. It's still there, just in a different place.
"Where are you at?" on the other hand has no object at all. The only pronoun (no nouns) is you, but that is the subject. It is perfectly sufficient to simply say "Where are you?" The at is not necessary grammatically or semantically, because where identifies that this is a question of location.
I have been hearing people use the incorrect form with increasing frequency. I hear it all the time from students. I've heard it from teachers and newscasters. This Sunday, I even heard it from my pastor. I do not understand why this phrasing has become popular and seemingly acceptable. Many changes in language come about through laziness. For example, we no longer pronounce the k in knight. However, that cannot explain this phenomenon, because people are actually adding a word. Hopefully this indicates that the trend will not be long-lived.
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Every April
I am not a fan of standardized testing in its current arrangement. There are many reasons that most teachers feel unfavorably about standardized tests, but I won't take too much of your time by describing them all now. However, I want to tell you of a reason why everyone else should oppose standardized tests: cheating.
I'm not talking about students cheating. Most students don't care enough about the tests to take the elaborate measures that would be necessary for them to cheat. Students are basically locked in a room, not allowed to leave until they finish, and then, only one at a time. There are up to fourteen different versions of the test with the questions and answers in varying order. And students are never to be left alone with any testing materials. Finding a way to cheat would probably be harder for them than the test.
Actually, it is the teachers you should be worried about. Every year, tens of thousands of teachers are forced into a situation where they have both the motive and the opportunity to cheat.
Despite the well-known truth that all teachers are perfect models of morality, judgement and citizenship; the situation into which they are placed may cause some to want to take less than completely honest actions. There is a lot riding on the scores of their students. For one, there is funding. Programs like No Child Left Behind withhold money from schools who don't perform well enough, the schools who need it the most. There are additional repurcussions for schools and ditricts who score too low. This year, California's Race to the Top program will require the fifty schools which showed the least gains to undergo radical changes such as terminating at least half of the teaching staff or even closing the school completely. There are also benefits to having high scores. In some districts, teachers are given bonuses for having very good or improved test results. So some teachers will do just about anything to get their scores up.
And teachers are given all of the opportunities for cheating that students are denied. No one but the students are there to watch the teachers during the test. Then, when the students leave, the teachers are often alone with the materials until they are returned for the day. There are many ways they could cheat, such as telling students information that will help them find the answer (e.g. "Sum means addition"), directly telling a student which answer to bubble in, or doing it him or herself after the students have finished.
I certainly do not advocate cheating; I write this to inform the general public as to what is probably happening. In fact, I am quite certain that it is happening. It has happened before. Both teachers and administrators have been caught cheating on standardized tests in Chicago, New York City and Oakland. So consider for yourself if you want your state to spend large amounts of money creating, producing, distributing and scoring test for which the results can and likely are being invalidated by cheating teachers.
I'm not talking about students cheating. Most students don't care enough about the tests to take the elaborate measures that would be necessary for them to cheat. Students are basically locked in a room, not allowed to leave until they finish, and then, only one at a time. There are up to fourteen different versions of the test with the questions and answers in varying order. And students are never to be left alone with any testing materials. Finding a way to cheat would probably be harder for them than the test.
Actually, it is the teachers you should be worried about. Every year, tens of thousands of teachers are forced into a situation where they have both the motive and the opportunity to cheat.
Despite the well-known truth that all teachers are perfect models of morality, judgement and citizenship; the situation into which they are placed may cause some to want to take less than completely honest actions. There is a lot riding on the scores of their students. For one, there is funding. Programs like No Child Left Behind withhold money from schools who don't perform well enough, the schools who need it the most. There are additional repurcussions for schools and ditricts who score too low. This year, California's Race to the Top program will require the fifty schools which showed the least gains to undergo radical changes such as terminating at least half of the teaching staff or even closing the school completely. There are also benefits to having high scores. In some districts, teachers are given bonuses for having very good or improved test results. So some teachers will do just about anything to get their scores up.
And teachers are given all of the opportunities for cheating that students are denied. No one but the students are there to watch the teachers during the test. Then, when the students leave, the teachers are often alone with the materials until they are returned for the day. There are many ways they could cheat, such as telling students information that will help them find the answer (e.g. "Sum means addition"), directly telling a student which answer to bubble in, or doing it him or herself after the students have finished.
I certainly do not advocate cheating; I write this to inform the general public as to what is probably happening. In fact, I am quite certain that it is happening. It has happened before. Both teachers and administrators have been caught cheating on standardized tests in Chicago, New York City and Oakland. So consider for yourself if you want your state to spend large amounts of money creating, producing, distributing and scoring test for which the results can and likely are being invalidated by cheating teachers.
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Hey, Watch This!
One of the best things about teaching is the vacations. I have had the last three weeks off from work. So, I have been watching a lot of TV and movies lately. I have found three movies that I think every person who works in education needs to watch.
Happy Feet
One of the seemingly dozens of penguin movies that have come out recently and the best of the group. Aside from the obvious commentary on global conservation, this movie is about people with different abilities. After watching it, you will never think about a resource or special ed. student in the same way.
Stand and Deliver
Yes, this movie is quite old, but still totally relevant. It is all about how expectations can affect performance. When a group of poor, inner-city, Latino kids are given a chance to excel and supported by someone who believes in them, they do what no one else thought was possible.
Accepted
When this movie first came out, I didn't want to watch it, because I thought it would be another typical college movie about drinking. There certainly are scenes portraying alcohol consumption, but the film has more than that. It represents an outsiders view of American academic society. At the end, the main character makes a great speech about the true purposes of education.
If you have a different opinion of these movies that you want to share or other suggestions, please comment.
Happy Feet
One of the seemingly dozens of penguin movies that have come out recently and the best of the group. Aside from the obvious commentary on global conservation, this movie is about people with different abilities. After watching it, you will never think about a resource or special ed. student in the same way.
Stand and Deliver
Yes, this movie is quite old, but still totally relevant. It is all about how expectations can affect performance. When a group of poor, inner-city, Latino kids are given a chance to excel and supported by someone who believes in them, they do what no one else thought was possible.
Accepted
When this movie first came out, I didn't want to watch it, because I thought it would be another typical college movie about drinking. There certainly are scenes portraying alcohol consumption, but the film has more than that. It represents an outsiders view of American academic society. At the end, the main character makes a great speech about the true purposes of education.
If you have a different opinion of these movies that you want to share or other suggestions, please comment.
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