Carrying for Teaching

Student teaching is difficult on a good day. There are many suggestions for Survival Kits to make it through. Here are some of the basic items:

Snack bars (just in case)
Extra Pencils
Extra Pens
Notebook
Extra Change (for vending machine)
Vitamins
small Kleenex


You will find these basic items to be quite helpful.

I also found that you need a good bag of some sorts. Something with dividers in them. I am using a solid computer backpack. Yes I am taking my laptop. I am working in a rather safe rural environment. Despite what I have listed above . . . pack light. I travel between three classrooms. You never know what kind of tromping around you will have to do.

Education Freedom of Choice

While I teach in the public school, I support a parent's right to choose the type of education for the child. This may mean private school or home school. I fully support the parent's right to choose. You know that freedom of choice thing.

The German government is is trying to pull a Tenuate on Christian homeschoolers. This law goes back to Adolph Hitler who forbade home school. The United Nations has said that parents have the right to choose the type of education for their kids.

Despite Germany's great love of the UN they will gladly apply the Nazi practices of locking up a 17 year girl in a psych unit because she was home schooled.

Can you pass the praxis test?

Warning: This contains some statistical information which many people find boring. If you did not pass the praxis this could be discouraging.

I have taken and passed all the Praxis tests that have been required by WGU. I wondered how well did I really do. Some of the tests I thought were easy and some were hard.

So I was spelunking around the web and found some interesting data from the state of PA.

http://www.teaching.state.pa.us/teaching/cwp/view.asp?a=302&q=122566&teachingNav=|93|87|&teachingNav=|1904|

The bottom line is really interesting for PA and for all students.

All of these passing rates are for the state of Pennsylvania only.

Reading PPST - 91% of students received a 172 or greater
Writing PPST - 84% of students received a 173 or greater
Math PPST - 82% of students received a 173 or higher


Now we compare those numbers in PA to the state of VA which has the highest requirements for passing. (Note: CT also requires a 176 in writing)

Reading PPST - 67.3% of students received a 178 or greater
Writing PPST - 52.5% of students received a 176 or greater
Math PPST - 63% of students received a 178 or higher

To me these numbers are staggering. I thought the PPST was an easy test and the only one I really did not worry about passing.

The really odd numbers are that of the Praxis 81 which is Social Studies Content Test which is required by 32 states with an average required score of 153.6.

For Pennsylvania students over the past three years 82% of students passed the test with a score of 157.

The states with the highest required score are CT, VT, WV with a score of 162 and 161 for VA. In the state of PA only 66% of the 3,853 students reached the 162 level.