Real Talk Intervention

Recently we attended one of Marzano Research Group's online webinars - Designing and Implementing a Personalized K-12 Competency Based System . This revolutionary way of designing curriculum removes the structural barriers that stand in the way of your student's success, with a full school redesign that does away with whole group classrooms filled with students at different ability and competency levels. You can view the recording of the webinar here , and then listen to our podcast where Stefanie and I discuss how, even though you may not be able to redesign your entire school, you can still dramatically improve student success through implementing a personalized, standards-based system in your OWN classroom right now. You can listen to our podcast here Real Talk Intervention is on iTunes and Stitcher for Android. Search for us on your Podcasts app or download the Stitcher app to listen on your mobile device.

In this week's episode we discuss how creating learning ladders in your content standards helps you direct your interventions. In the English contents a learning ladder can show you where the "holes" are in your students' skill sets. While in science learning ladders can reveal where large conceptual misunderstandings are causing you to build upon an unsound foundation. Listen to our podcast here ! Did you know you can subscribe to us in your Podcast app? Add podcast by web address and enter this address: http://feeds.feedburner.com/realtalkintervention Music courtesy of Creative Commons http://www.bensound.com  

As public school teachers who are apparently on the “wrong side” of the accountability movement at this time, we are challenged quite a bit. Standardized tests are unfair and biased. Standardized tests only test a student’s ability to guess. Standardized tests are inauthentic experience that aren’t a judge of anything other than themselves. And after all - “Don’t you think that every student is an individual, and every kid has strengths, and every kid can learn…Don’t you want to teach them and not teach a test?” Yes, of course. No one wants to spend their lives wasting their time teaching students things that don’t matter. Hence the impact of politically charged legislation like The Teaching OverTesting Act – which aims to reduce the accountability piece of the STAAR performance system. But standardized testing and standardized measures of accountability are not incompatible with teaching, individuality, or strengths finding in students. The trouble with the reinforcing t...

Did you know you can subscribe to our podcast on your podcast app? Go to Add New Podcast and enter this URL: http://feeds.feedburner.com/realtalkintervention You must add the http:// It's still a little clunky, but we're learning as we go! If you add us to your Podcast app you will still get updates when we update and you can listen to us on the go.

The Teaching Over Testing Act introduced by Representative Jacob Isaac (R) of Dripping Springs takes aim yet again at Texas' standardized accountability measure - the STAAR exam. The act calls for reduced number of exams a reduction of the accountability impact of the exams district choice as to whether or not to use the STAAR or any other TEK-aligned assessment You can read more about the act here We discuss, with great passion, why this continued assault on accountability measures is so dangerous for our most vulnerable students. Listen to us here ! Music courtesy of The Creative Commons http://www.bensound.com

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, ye...