Class 3- Groundhog's Day

So whether or not old P. Phil saw his shadow I don't know, but what I do know is that it feels like winter with the wonderful snow! Today felt like a very productive day despite waking up hurting all over, call it the cold damp weather or old age but some days it really hurts to get out of bed. Even with the looming threat of snow, and in fact because of it, we really got alot done. We started by having a discussion about the difference between Summative and Formative assessments. This comes in handy because I have conveniently picked up another class this semester that deals with assessments and until tonight, despite having referred to these multiple times in class, I was unsure exactly what they meant. Summative focuses on the long-term learning and assesses, essentially, if the teacher had bascially done their job in teaching students what they need to know. Formative assessments go hand in hand with instructional activities and occur more frequently, because they help the teacher determine at what point in learning each student is with the lesson. Therefore with Formative assessments the teacher has the opportunity to remediate if necessary; whereas with Summative assessments, although they may be used in a formative way/more frequently the more or less cap the front and back ends of the learning period such that the end results come after the point where help may have been needed.
On to our excel spreadsheet assignments. Excel, got it. It sounds or feels eerily too easy after having the in-class demo on the basics of Excel but I shall give it my best effort. We discussed how to calculate weighted grade averages, this following our previous discussion about assessments in schools.
Teachers really have alot of work to do, I think it's poor logic to assume that teachers need yet more pressure added in regards to finely balancing their many duties-mandatory test prep included, like an act of juggling eggs with satin mittens on. I can understand teacher accountability to a certain degree, there being a certain set of obligations but teaching is NOT like working a production line, where all the goods being churned out are identical and predictable. It isn't fair to assume every teaching situation will have the same turn out at all times, and what of difficult students who really don't care to be in school and come just for the free lunches? How is that a teacher's fault such that they should take the blame for that student's weak performance?? As a future Art teacher, I know we face hell because the core curriculum teachers view Art as a dummy class because it does not involve standards testing and such, but it is just as important within a school as any, if not more for some students. There needs to be less focus on just math and science because not every student is going to move onto a career where these are needed, not fair. Japanese students score tremendously high in math, they also spend most of their year, all day, all week, in school; suicide among teens is the highest in the world. High math and high demand high pressure lives vs. ok math for those who won't need it and happy people.