-tictech message:
Hi all,
Thanks to all the folks who participated in the furious flurry of a
discussion over the DWA and the use of spell check last week. Very good
arguments made from many points of view, I think. I only hope some of those
who continue to set the rules for technology in testing actually read and
think about some of the points made in that conversation.
For me, I was a disappointed (but not surprised) at the reaction of those
who thought spell check should not be used. However, I was even more
disappointed there were not more speaking up about the use of word
processors at all on this test. As far as I have heard, my classroom was the
only one in Seattle allowing kids to use word processors. If true, this is
very disappointing - and surprising. I really, really hope there were
others...
I continue to believe the DWA word processing restrictions are reactive and
punitive. Great to hear about a study about a handful of undergraduates, but
my subjective (and thus unreliable and invalid, to many) observations of
nearly as many third graders contradict those results. There just is no
research out there. Anecdotal reports carry weight, depending on where they
are printed, how they're written, and who reads them. There MUST be more
research done here, especially with young learners.
Then there is the "if Life gives you lemons, make lemonade" philosophy. Turn
a bad educational situation into a learning opportunity. I tell you what,
folks. If the Life fruit dispensing machine continues to dole out lemons to
me and my kids, I will not sit back and improvise. I'll be contacting the
vendor. - Mark
ps - you can browse the archive of the DWA conversation at the bottom of:
http://lspace.learningspace.org:88/hypermail/tictech/index.html
Mark Ahlness
mlahlness@seattleschools.org
Arbor Heights Elementary
www.arborheights.com
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Mon Mar 17 2003 - 18:20:37 PST