The shoe metaphor vs. ‘one size fits all’ testing

So during my professional development session today, I watched a a little video about Lexile scores. Here – it’s on YouTube, so you can watch it too. It’s only about six minutes long, and it’s informative. But honestly, the argument in this post isn’t about Lexile scores. It’s about metaphors.

My argument is with the shoe size metaphor used in the video. I don’t mean that I’m against it; in fact, it’s brilliant and succinct: you would never purchase your next pair of shoes based on your age or grade level. No, you measure your foot and buy shoes that fit based on the corresponding size. Duh. That’s a no-brainer. MetaMetrics figured out that this idea works for reading levels too. Giving students texts based only on their grade level or age is just as misguided as giving them shoes based on the same criteria. So MetaMetrics created a system to help teachers target texts that correlate to student ability levels. Brilliant! This allows students to learn and improve their literacy levels without making them feel frustrated. I, as a teacher, can plan lessons that incorporate texts on multiple levels to meet the abilities of all my students. I can ensure that I’m pinpointing each student’s area of weakness to help him or her improve. Likewise, I can help my higher-level students continue to exceed without boring or alienating them. This is truly a way to differentiate instruction. This is truly a way to foster understanding. This is truly a way to promote knowledge acquisition and improve intelligence.

Then they all have to take and pass the same F***ING test on the same F***ING level.

I’m letting my students train for the big game in their own tennis shoes, then giving everyone a box of size 9 stilettos and wishing ‘em all luck in the playoffs.

Someone forward this video to Arne Duncan, please.

Reimagining texts through technology: The Exodus

Just in time for Passover, Jewish website Aish.com has posted a clever video that retells  the story of the Exodus. The question posed is “What if Moses had Facebook?” The answer is both visually stunning and contemplative, and it’s a great example of how texts can be adapted and re-imagined through modern social media.

10,000 strong…and growing.

Yeah, that’s a Flintstones Vitamins commercial reference…

Buffalo Vitamins - Now a suppository!

I don’t really know how it happened, but my buffalo video has reached 10,000 views! I know, I know, it isn’t really that impressive when you consider that something like this has over 100 million hits, but still, I’m happy about my little YouTube milestone. In fact, because it’s getting more attention than I had intended, it’s a little embarrassing that my video – which discusses the appropriate use of language – has a misuse of the phrase “begs the question”. Sorry about that. Logical fallacy FAIL. Oh well, thank you to everyone who has watched it, and a special thanks to whoever thought to link my video from the Wikipedia page that discusses this linguistic phenomenon. The video is getting approximately 150-200 views per day now, so show it to your friends, and maybe someday my educational video about language will be more popular than a bit about cartoon babies farting in a bathtub. (:

Two blog posts in one day?

Yes…because I referenced a video about cannibalism in my previous post before I had even uploaded it to the YouTubes. Now it’s there, and you can check it out. It illustrates how punctuation can affect meaning in a sentence. A missed comma can turn a pleasant dinner with your extended family into a rage-induced, cannibalistic nightmare rendered in MS Paint.