Reply to Are there ANY schools that don't teach to the test?

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Reply to "Are there ANY schools that don't teach to the test?"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote]Skill building isn't done in a vacuum, you need a context for those skills, especially if you want to keep kids engaged. A unit on phases of the moon, done properly, won't just be reciting the phases of the moon. Obviously the skills they're building will vary based on age, but you could use it to build reading skills (by reading books on phases of the moon), research and writing skills (by doing a research paper on phases of the moon using a variety of research sources), science (not just the facts of planetary motion, which is pretty cool on it's own, but observation and recording skills by having them do a moon observation), you could tie the science into math depending on what they're doing, whether it's basic fractions, or more advanced math involved in calculating aspects of the motion patterns), a social studies lesson on how various cultures have interpreted the changes in the moon through history, etc.[/quote]

Of course you can do all of this.  But you can also pick another topic, such as the creation of the solar system and the differences between the planets or how climate change is affecting the Arctic region of our planet or how a camera works and about innovations in photography.  The point is that the skill building can be done through a ton of different topics and not just the ones that the state has picked out.  The teacher could use topics that he/she happens to have expertise in or is very curious about (and nothing excites the kids like having a teacher who is excited about a topic).  Having the state decide what the topics are is more what I was talking about.  That becomes stale for the teacher from year to year as well as for the students.  [/quote]

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