C4T 1 - Beth Knittle

Beth's Thoughts on Technology in the Classroom

Beth's Thoughts on Technology in the Classroom is a blog by Beth Knittle, a K-12 Technology Integration Specialist for a district in Massachusetts. Although many of her posts are about integrating technology in the classroom, the two posts I commented on focused on other changes in America's evolving education system. The first post, "Value Added Models: Where are we headed?" discusses the introduction of Value Added Measures as a way to evaluate teacher performance. The second post, "Education vs Regurgitation" describes adjusting teaching styles to produce life long learners.

Value Added Models: Where are we headed?

Value Added Model (VAM) is a new evaluation tool for teacher effectiveness. Instead of basing teacher performance on students' test scores, it measures what student achievement over the timespan of being in the teacher's class. It is not used in Knittle's state, but other states are adopting VAM (including Florida, who publishes a list of the top 1/3 of the state's teachers). Knittle seems a bit skeptical of VAM, but is open to learning more about it. In my comment, I related VAM to my Honors thesis research on Finnish teachers. There is almost no standardized testing in Finland and while I do not believe that the U.S. should copy this, I have doubts about using standardized testing to accurately evaluate teacher performance.

Education vs Regurgitation

In this post, Knittle explains that at one point in her teaching career she disliked students interrupting her or asking questions because it messed up her "scripted" lesson plan. As Knittle explains, "I was seeking students who were good at regurgitation. If my test results were good, then I was a good teacher." However, she has since realized that the students she once avoided were the ones who actually wanted to learn. Creative thinking helps to create life long learners, and Knittle says that building skills of a life long learner will help students better their classroom and the world outside of it. Using technology in the classroom makes this task more possible than ever before, and as teachers we must continue to foster the skills of a life long learner in our students. In my comment, I reflected on my own time in elementary school when I only wanted to please the teacher by being and still, but now I wish for my students to be like the life long learners Knittle describes.