Pondering the West E

Last week's Ayers readings reminded me of my experience in taking the West E recently.

"Two thoughts filled my head as I mindlessly checked off the answers. First was the thought that whatever it was they were testing for, it had no relation to what I understood teaching to be. I might get a perfect score, or I might fail the test outright, but neither result would be helpful in determining whether I would succeed or not, whether I would be a good or rotten teacher." (Ayers, p. 123)

I passed (!) but I was left with the thought of- how will knowing what the secondary purpose of a foxes ears mean anything even slightly related to how I will be a good teacher? Even if they had opened it up to a short answer essay, I would have better been able to explain my answer, and my reasoning for why I thought the purpose was this certain thing. Multiple choice assessments leave little room for different interpretations of questions. I wonder what Sir Ken Robinson would have to say about this... Goodbye, divergent thinking! Then again, it is necessary for teachers to have academic breadth, and the biological function of fox ears certainly fits into academic breadth.

I'm studying for the next West E I take in about a week, and after the last one, I have no idea what to expect. I'm looking forward to the more individualized assessments we'll have later on in this program. It's a huge opportunity to be able to reflect on what you're doing and how effective it is. Assessments used to sound a little frightening but now I think they would be helpful. I want to be comfortable reflecting on myself so that each day think about what could be done better, and then improve. Teaching is a reflective process.