Define Away...

Teachers have a language all their own.  We sit around and discuss scores from tests made up of various letters of the alphabet, spout percentages and numbers that hold great store to the listener, and use a lexicon all our own.  If you are not on the inside, it may sound like Greek.  However, if you are on the inside, sometimes it is still Greek. Thus, we need definitions.

I am working on creating definitions for my dissertation topic.  I think they are all self-explanatory, but today I was reminded that was not the case.  I am presenting tomorrow at the state social studies conference on the importance of accountability in assisting students reach higher levels of academic achievement on the standardized end-of-course tests.  I'm basically explaining my hopeful dissertation topic to a much larger, more diverse audience than when I presented it to the department heads of my school. At the pre-conference mixer, a fellow presenter asked me what my workshop was on and I responded accountability.  What do you mean, he asked.  It's a modified version of Gagne's Instructional design model where I have created a grid to allow teachers to track their assessments.  Like tests, he said.  No... more like formative assessments as well as summative assessments.  Blank look...  Embedded assessments, I modified.  Nothing...  Ummm...  Okay, maybe these terms really do need defining.