I guess I should've called the title of this blog the second sign of spring. We've already had the first sign of spring, the "bubble test." Yes, last week the students at our school started taking one of the two "high stakes" tests that will label our school as adequate or inadequate. Of course these tests include a section called "Study Skills" that has questions about reference books from the 19th century and not one question about search engines, databases or other online sources of information. We're trying to teach our students to use reputable, reliable online sources of information and we have to take time out of our teaching to teach students how to use something they may never use again in their lifetimes. It is the information contained within the book that is important, not the book. Most libraries don't waste money on the periodical indices that our students are being tested on.. . oh well.
Anyway, as I was driving home from work today, I was studying the trees for the first sign of green. At one magical point, you can see a green "aura" around the trees before they actually leaf out. I looked on the north side of the highway and the south side of the highway and couldn't see any green on the trees. Then I looked straight ahead and saw another sign of the coming of spring. . . dead bugs on the windsheild!
4 comments:
Just testing . . .
I've been reading "The Word is Flat" this week. It is precisely a litany of what you are saying about the electronic revolution in keeping up. Wikipedia for example.
I was able to use your comment about the kind of questions used on national testing with the Coffee group today. We had a lot of discussion about school activities and whether or not the Billings levy would pass this year. The consensus was that it wouldn't.
We don't have bugs. My roses are starting to grow and leaf out. I expect to see some buds soon. I am excited that spring has almost sprung here in Oregon.
Encyclopedias and the reference guide to periodicals? They really need to update those tests. With most magazines online and the ever fascinating and growing Google search engine, those things are obsolete. Even Microsoft's computer encyclopedia can't keep up. Have they been taught about wikipedia?
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