Monthly Archives: July 2015

high stakes testing: stone walled vs. living stones

Posted on July 31, 2015 by bakrawiec

High-stakes testing really makes my blood boil. (If you’ve kindly read the past few posts: Can you tell?) More than that. It makes my stomach turn. A good student (summa cum laude graduate), I was a lousy test taker—a tried-and-true … Continue reading →

Posted in Education, Evaluations, High-Stakes Testing, Retirement, Seniors, Students, Teachers, Testing, Transitions, Work | Leave a comment

high-stakes testing hurts

Posted on July 30, 2015 by bakrawiec

It had been quite a six months for our son. His paternal grandfather had died twelve days before his ninth birthday in December; his maternal grandfather was hospitalized with misdiagnosed strokes in January; his father was diagnosed in February with … Continue reading →

Posted in Education, Employment, Evaluations, High-Stakes Testing, Students, Teachers, Work | Leave a comment

testing tunnel vision

Posted on July 29, 2015 by bakrawiec

Surprised to see the head high school guidance counselor walk into my classroom on a particular February morning, I was immediately puffed up when he explained the reason for his arrival, delivering, in hushed tones, a confidential message. A young … Continue reading →

Posted in Education, Employment, Evaluations, Students, Teachers, Testing | Leave a comment

tests and measurements–what’s valid?

Posted on July 28, 2015 by bakrawiec

No apologies. Certified psychology teacher that I am, this post, nevertheless, does not pretend to use “invalid” in its psychometric sense. No concern here with validity or reliability of test measurements, either. No. This post makes an argument about the … Continue reading →

Posted in Education, Evaluations, Seniors, Students, Teachers, Testing, Transitions, Work | Leave a comment

…”can never tell”…

Posted on July 27, 2015 by bakrawiec

A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops. From the first moments of my teaching career, I was challenged and affirmed by those words of Henry Adams’ spoken to me by my undergraduate methods professor in … Continue reading →

Posted in Education, Retirement, Seniors, Students, Teachers, Transitions, Work | Leave a comment

generativity self-check à la Erikson

Posted on July 26, 2015 by bakrawiec

In pursuit of psychology teaching certification, I was introduced to the idea of “generativity” from reading the work of noted psychologist Erik Erikson, whose generativity stage is contained within his theory of psychosocial development. According to Erikson, one way of … Continue reading →

Posted in Education, Retirement, Seniors, Teachers, Transitions | Leave a comment

identity thieves

Posted on July 25, 2015 by bakrawiec

Not to minimize the economic and social havoc that today’s headliner “identity thieves” create in their victim’s lives; nevertheless, there is a whole other breed of identity thieves, around for centuries, I suppose, whose work often goes unspoken about—except, perhaps, … Continue reading →

Posted in Retirement, Students, Teachers | Leave a comment

give-and-take compliments

Posted on July 24, 2015 by bakrawiec

It’s one thing to think complimentary thoughts about someone; it’s quite another thing to verbalize the compliment to that person. I hadn’t really considered the difficulty inherent in verbalizing compliments—maybe because I didn’t give many?—until a reading supervisor raised my … Continue reading →

Posted in Employment, Retirement, Seniors, Teachers, Transitions | Leave a comment

thanks for understanding

Posted on July 23, 2015 by bakrawiec

One of the interesting dynamics of being an elementary school librarian is the number of daily thank you’s received from students, with this clarification. Invariably at the end of each library session, as part of the lining-up departure protocol, classroom … Continue reading →

Posted in Employment, Librarian, Retirement, Seniors, Students, Teachers, Transitions | Leave a comment

congratulations…for what?

Posted on July 22, 2015 by bakrawiec

Them: “Congratulations!” Me: …knee jerk: “Thank you!” As you might imagine, I’ve heard my fair share of “Congratulations!” since I shared my retirement decision on June 30th. Now, three weeks later, the more resigned, comfortable, and grateful I continue to … Continue reading →

Posted in Employment, Retirement, Seniors, Transitions | Leave a comment