Real Talk Intervention

In this episode we discuss how you CAN run a standards based classroom, where you teach every standard to every student, even when you have a broad range of ability in your classroom. Listen to our podcast here! Music courtesy of Creative Commons http://www.bensound.com Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter @Intervene4Real. Leave a comment here if you want to join in the conversation!

By: Stefanie Garcia In the world of Texas English assessment at large, and here at the smaller world of Real Talk Intervention, there has been a debate on whether or not a test can actually assess an author’s intent. As an English teacher would like to weigh in on this – no, it cannot. Yes, it is impossible to know exactly what an author was thinking. As an author myself of many terrible high school emo poems, I understand that sometimes, an author uses a word, or a structure, or a simile, instinctively and without guile or intent. Sometimes, the author’s intent is just to get the feelings out. However, we are educators and we are not here to have esoteric conversations about individual authors and what they wanted me to think about their poem. They already got to write it, and now it is my turn to have a go at this text, whose rights were knowingly sold to the STAAR test creators. I am first and foremost a teacher and the educational reality is that discussing and, yes, a

You know that awkward moment when you’ve been blogging for about two weeks, and you look at your phone to see that one of the most prestigious English literacy gurus has tweeted at you to tell you you’re wrong? The first thing you do is turn your head and look at her books on your shelf that you’ve been using to guide your instruction – oh, and the curriculum development for the district – and then you completely freak out. And, yes, you start to question yourself. But here’s the thing. In our last podcast, we took issue with Sara Holbrook’s assertion that the STAAR test should not be asking readers to infer author’s purpose from text structure or other literary elements. We argued, basically, that this was one of the key features of text analysis, that, in fact, it broadens and enriches the reader’s experience of the text, and that it helps readers become writers. You can listen to our full conversation here . We knew there would be a response to this. What we didn’t

Time for some REAL talk. Sara Holbrook published a wildly viral article on Huffington Post wherein she criticizes the 8th grade STAAR for its author's purpose questions on two of her poems. Holbrook brings her incisive commentary to bear on the long running issue of standardized testing - with the unique twist of actually being an author. She's got a strong platform to stand on, and she uses it to condemn standardized testing and those who utilize it. Read her article here We at Real Talk Intervention beg to disagree. Please check out our special podcast on this issue, where we take issue with her contention that the questions are useless because they failed to correctly identify her purpose, and with her overall thesis that standardized tests such as these are useless for parents, educators, and students alike. Listen to our podcast  here . We apologize for the audio quality on this one guys - there were some technical issues we weren't able to fully overcome.

Last week Texas released the preliminary school grades under their new A-F accountability system. Superintendents across the state have come out publicly condemning this system. To say this one is controversial is putting it mildly. Stefanie and I researched the new accountability system for you, and we lay out some of the details of how this new system works. We also discuss what we think of this new ratings system, what it means for school districts, and what it means for intervention. You don't want to miss this one! Listen to our conversation here ! Follow us on Feedburner: feeds.feedburner.com/realtalkintervention Music provided by The Creative Commons. http://www.bensound.com

It's the first full episode of Real Talk Intervention - the podcast! Tune in to hear our conversation on standards-based education and the standards-based classroom. Should you be writing your student expectation on the board every morning? All along has THIS actually been the secret to high levels of student engagement? Probably not! But listen to find out what we think. Stefanie shares an intervention success with ELL learners and shares some curriculum suggestions for ELLs and other struggling English learners. You can follow us at http://feeds.feedburner.com/RealTalkIntervention Or listen to the episode here: The Standards Based Classroom If you want to be a part of our next episode, please leave feedback here or on our Facebook page: Like us here! Music courtesy of the Creative Commons www.bensound.com