Who am I in relation to my research topic? How does my position affect the way I approach and/or understand my topic? MY LENSES!
I am a product of a standardized testing environment. I am a victim of being taught how to take a test instead of being provided meaningful, deep, rich learning opportunities and experiences that lead to LEARNING. Instead, I memorized pieces of information for short periods of time, regurgitated that information on standardized tests and then pressed the empty button where most the information was whipped away in order to begin memorizing information for the next test. This is my public school learning experience. Very seldomly was I required to apply my learning in a meaningful way that caused me to make connections between subjects, units, and/or lessons. I would not say that my education was poor...my schools have long held outstanding academic reputations with the state. Instead, I would say that my education taught me how to get to take a test, and how to study, but did not teach me how to use the information in a real world interconnected way.
I am a teacher who has been required to administer standardized tests to my ART students. I have personally witnessed the lack of value in this practice for my students. Yes, it gave me results on what technical medium skills need further improvement but by the time I had these results we had moved onto the next set of skills in the curriculum. Don't get me wrong, you can always review information and provide more time for practice thus increasing the connectivity between lessons/units. The problem is that my students never saw their results, never had time to reflect on their mistakes, and seeing is believing. Me telling them, "We need to further practice _________" does not motivate. Students enjoy being independent learners. They relish their "AHA moments" and standardized tests do not permit them such experiences.
What ethical issues might I raise?
This question has me thrown...I don't know if there are any...
Who will be best served by this study?
The STUDENTS!
Who might be affected or hurt by it? How?
Teachers and students alike may be hurt by this study because there is no guarantee that it will yield successful results. There are likely to be many failures prior to successes, thus not benefiting students or teachers.
What are my hidden biases and assumptions?
I am assuming that other teachers will not be on board with testing new ideas. I'm assuming that any method that requires any additional work than is already being asked of them will be immediately rejected despite it's potential for benefiting our program. I am bias against the traditional standardized test, tests that expect the SAME result/product when testing ART STUDENTS, tests that stunt creativity and problem solving, tests that do not allow for reflection and improvement by both the students and teachers.
Should I change my question to avoid difficulties?
HECK NO.
Progress isn't born from easy tasks.
Progress isn't born from easy tasks.
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