There’s a lot of stink about the Bucks County teacher who wrote crappy things about her students on a blog. Chris L-H has a great response .

As I was thinking about this situation, I was struck by the realization that one of the ways that I’ve always judged my classes is whether or not I’ve had a moment where a student says something that stops me in my tracks. If I’ve set my class up right and I’ve laid the groundwork for a community based on respectful exchange of ideas, then almost every time some student will say or realize something and express their idea in a way I’d never considered before. Every time.

If I were smart or at least more organized, I could have a class blog that documented these insights. Are there kids spacing out, texting, or disengaged? Does my classroom practice have issues? Certainly. But at least one measurement of whether I’m succeeding is the regularity of these moments.

Awesome letter in today’s paper:

To the Editor:

Your article reveals the essential weakness of an educational system based on standardized tests: standardized tests teach how to answer questions; a true education teaches the questions to ask.

I’m old enough to remember opening my SAT envelope with my Mom peering over my shoulder. As an adult, I remember getting my GRE scores too. Today, for the first time, I got my scores via computer, and actually had genuine anxiety as I waited for the .pdf to finish loading. In some ways, had I just thrown away $130 to take a test I probably had no business taking?

All is well, though. I scored a 193 out of 200, which is scary, because it is significantly higher than I scored on test of the subject that I have a Ph.D. in. The cut score is 160; average range is 166-188, so I’m good to go once I mail the state my certification application. Interestingly, I scored in the middle with Language and Linguistics (right on the average) but scored 35 out of 36 on composition and rhetoric, well above the mean. So it goes.