I am trying to keep up with Claire and can’t seem to be able to do it. But I have to because she is pointing rapidly and repeatedly, jabbing more like it, in the right direction for us, in my opinion. What direction? In her overarching concept of what the terms assessment and curriculum even mean.
So, in an effort to keep up with her, and finding it awkward to continue the Authentic Assessment thread from the middle of May here, which was a doozy, I need to redirect this discussion forward and will explain how I am going to do that below.
(Some of us literally heard the thunder rolling and felt the earth shaking with some of the things Claire was saying over recent weeks. This is a rare opportunity we have in our community right now. Five years ago a few of us gave wings to jGR against all odds. Now that bird is morphing into something new and even better, a bird that can fly higher and soar faster. We need to keep up with it.)
But we have over 30 articles under the title of Authentic Assessment and it might spin out of control so I am starting a new set of threads with the other bookend term – Curriculum. Does that make sense? We just can’t have a thread on Authentic Assessment with 100’s of articles – nobody could ever read them. So the new term, same thread really, is “Curriculum”. Let’s see where it goes.
I want to be clear on this – I am going to push everything Claire is saying. When people like Alisa Shapiro and Robert Harrell and Steve Ordiano give her the green light, we don’t need to act like there other angles on this CRITICAL topic to discuss. Claire has all of them covered. There are some here who might want to criticize that. Too bad. We’re going this way. It’s time for THIS discussion to happen in this way and it will even if it seems like one person’s views are dominating. I have thought long and hard about this. Claire is not trying to take over anything. She is not even a TPRS teacher they way we are but an ESL specialist, which I find of crucial importance because she can see what we do through different eyes and if you read all these coming new “Curriculum” articles carefully you will see why.
(My original idea was that, since school was ending right about now, we could pick the authentic assessment piece up in Chattanooga, where, appropriately, Claire lives (Nashville). But Claire kept censing that the time is now, kept sending me stuff and was willing to work with Keri and jen privately off line and I am not about to allow THAT to happen. NOW IS THE TIME ON ASSESSMENT AND CURRICULUM. So Claire is right to push this piece now. If you think about it, it’s the best time, because in the fall everybody will be looking to the INSTRUCTION piece and this thread would get trampled in the construction dust of a new year. Plus, it’s just too important.)
My inbox is already collecting emails from Claire. I will be posting things here. I will be combing the comments for stuff that will get us going on this. Let the new thread on Curriculum begin. But it’s really the Authentic Assessment thread disguised.
I hope the above makes sense and all agree to it. Otherwise we end up with too much information to even handle. The time for arguing about curriculum is over. The time for curriculum is over. Watch and find out why and what we are going to put in its place.