Teaching, Learning, Testing,

I am in the process of giving my students a standardized test on their Expository Unit. This unit has many challenges. The greatest challenge being a 3 week break in the middle of it. The second greatest challenge is administering the test before the unit is actually complete. It is a bit overwhelming at times, but I am pretty sure they have learned something during this.

I was going over evidence needing to be accurate, adequate and appropriate and they were having a difficult time with the whole concept. So, here is the example I gave:

Assertion: Kobe Bryant is the greatest basketball player in history.

Evidence: He is tall. He lives in Los Angeles. He plays for the Lakers.

The first response I heard was: "He's not tall!"

Seriously, that was the response. Then they went on to say he's not the greatest, blah blah blah.

So, it didn't exactly work. The worst part is I thought I could make it work and tried the same example in all 5 classes. I am a dork! I did try to improve my set up for the example to them, but I heard in all 5 classes: "He's not tall!" "Kobe don't have no game!" "Who Kobe Bryant?"

I've been thinking about it for a few days an the tall thing keeps coming back to me. I had to look it up. Kobe Bryant is 6'6" tall. How is that not tall? Why do they think he isn't tall? I guess because when they see him on TV they see him next to people who are taller than him. They don't see him next to people their height. THen I think why haven't most of them been to a game? It is only 5 or 6 stops off the blue line from where they live.

Then I think, "my students need real life experiences!" I need to add some in to next semester for them. That may be the most important thing I expose them to in my class.

Any ideas, let me know.