Maxwell 7: Still boring

[lauraloralara]

1 hour ago, jiggleromp said:

I have to say I do not like the use of "tear jerker" in reference to the memorial slideshow.  It comes off...cold?

 Could just be me, but I use "tear jerker" when I am joking around.  Like "I was watching the movie UP and I was bawling like a baby.  I didn't know it would be such a tear jerker"

  

I don't use it really as a joke but more in reference to something cheesy or over-the-top in its sentimentality. "The Notebook (or Beaches or Steel Magnolias etc.) is a real tear-jerker." (Don't get me wrong, I love those movies.) 

[lauraloralara]

Anyone know who is singing in the Susannah video?

[Rosie]

40 minutes ago, lauraloralara said:

Anyone know who is singing in the Susannah video?

Anyone know who is singing caterwauling in the Susannah video?

^^^ Fixed that for you.

I think it is Anna, Jesse and Mary.

[VooDooChild]

2 minutes ago, Rosie said:

Anyone know who is singing caterwauling in the Susannah video?

^^^ Fixed that for you.

I think it is Anna, Jesse and Mary.

If it sounds like braying donkeys, then it's Anna.

[FloraDoraDolly]

17 hours ago, purjolok84 said:

 

How many times can a student take the Iowa Basic Test? (I'm not American and the information is quite extensive) I remember seeing that Simpsons episode where Bart and Lisa do a standardised test that determines their future career but this is probably different.

From what I found, if Abby were in a public school (or in a private/charter school?) she would be tested from kindergarten to grade 2 (which is considered test levels 5-8 and cover a range of topics to allow for teachers to see how the student is going). So essentially age 5-7.

Abby is 8 years old. If generous I could consider her at the tail end of grade 2, but even with this in mind, there's been a lot of missed opportunities. At worst we can consider Abby to be in grade 3. So then we have test levels 9-14, which are given from grades 3-12. And the testings seems to be much more extensive.

So what 'Iowa Basic Test' did Teri give Abby? She just mentions the entire 'battery' and boasts that it was over in 'half the allotted time' which apparently included 'double testing'. Having worked as a substitute teacher for a while and having seen some amazing teachers at work, I have a real issue with this. That testing time is not for marking. That is for the student. The only reason Abby finished so early is that she is one. Not an entire class. No classroom teacher is marking twice, or even once, during a testing period. Also there seems to be a air of smugness about her, as there always is ... because it's been done at home. Who knows (based on the info above) if it's been done correctly? If the information will be used to benefit Abby or whether it will just be stored neatly away in a file because living under a godly mandate is more important to her extended family? Plus classroom teachers work hard for their students. It is not a credit to rush through testing.

In my time teaching I did so much for so many kids, and assessment was hard, hard work. I still think about some of my students - some in schools which prescribed to beliefs similar to the Maxwells - yet they still got access to school, peers and proper assessment, even if some of them were destined to marry and bear children first and then study further. This just seems horribly unfair for Abby and all the grandchildren.

(Sorry, my mission was never to write an essay - this is something I believe strongly in and reading this blog post and about the Iowa tests has made me a bit angry. No child deserves this.)

 

There is an Iowa Test of Basic Skills for each grade level from kindergarten through (I think) eighth grade, so a kid can take them every year. The test has a bazillion subtests for different academic subjects. But even if Abby is taking the full battery of tests every year, she isn't spending as much time on standardized tests as the average American public school kid. In some schools, testing and preparing for tests is the central focus of their education. There isn't time to do much else. School administrators are under immense pressure from the state to increase scores every year.

[purjolok84]

There is an Iowa Test of Basic Skills for each grade level from kindergarten through (I think) eighth grade, so a kid can take them every year. The test has a bazillion subtests for different academic subjects. But even if Abby is taking the full battery of tests every year, she isn't spending as much time on standardized tests as the average American public school kid. In some schools, testing and preparing for tests is the central focus of their education. There isn't time to do much else. School administrators are under immense pressure from the state to increase scores every year.

Sounds like the Naplan tests which are the current mode of standardised testing in Australia.

We have the same issue where teachers are pressured to teach so that kids are 'test ready' rather than focusing on learning. The tests have alternate uses in that the data is collated and parents use it to determine 'good' and 'bad' schools, which is hard to do considering that there are way too many factors to consider, including the exclusion of the intellectually disabled because their test scores affect the entire cohort.

I do think there are other ways to effectively assess a student. The benefit of a homeschool setting is of course that there aren't as many students - if I were a teacher it would not be practical to provide students with specialised assessment because when do I find the time? So standardised testing along with additional assessment makes sense. But in a homeschool setting, I would have more time for specialised assessment, to get to know my students and prepare. Standardised testing would really be an opportunity to show that 1) I'm doing my job and 2) I'm backing up what I'm doing.

I can guarantee you that Teri is doing the bare minimum.

[littlehouse]

4 hours ago, lauraloralara said:

I don't use it really as a joke but more in reference to something cheesy or over-the-top in its sentimentality. "The Notebook (or Beaches or Steel Magnolias etc.) is a real tear-jerker." (Don't get me wrong, I love those movies.) 

This too.

It just isn't something I would use to describe looking at photos of a dear departed loved one.

[Captain Obvious]

19 hours ago, VodouDoll said:

Definitely not Christian writers. All the Maxwells need is the Bible. Steve said reading theology is equivalent to eating food someone else has already chewed. The finest Christian thinkers and writers the world has ever produced are nothing but diseased backwash to him.

That[s not entirely true - the girls are allowed to read approved biographies of Christians/missionaries and they definitely read the Duggar sisters book.

You're probably right about theology though. Steve wouldn't like any competition. Who needs CS Lewis when you have Professor Maxwell?

[RoseWilder]

21 hours ago, mango_fandango said:

It would've been Susannah's 10th birthday today. Obligatory memorial post. It's the one time of year that the Maxwell blog demonstrates any kind of compassion.

 

 

I agree. It's also the only time of the year when they sound normal and human. 

[FundieFarmer]

Plodding on here...