Hello All,
Were there any other of you (besides Jack, Tracie and I) that took the ATS-W yesterday? If so, I don't know how you feel, but I think that test was atrocious! I went into the test feeling completely confident (especially after doing well, at least I think, on the LAST in the morning) about the situation. But after about 10 questions on the ATS-W, I felt like I was going to have a panic attack! There were so many questions where at least two of the answer options seemed right, and could have easily been justified responses. I wish I could get a copy of this test, so I could see what everyone else thought or would do about these possible situations. I am worried that so many of the real-life situations that we will encounter in the field have not been addressed in the program (dealing with ELL's, conducting parent-teacher conferences, dealing with administration, or realizing after the fact that your lesson plan was 'boring', etc.)!
Luckily, the essay addressed strategies that could be used to satisfy a district's requirement that students learn to use technology effectively and appropriately! I was sure of that (thanks to 506) but the rest, I just don't know. I am terrified that I either did well (a lucky guesser after narrowing down to two answers) or have failed, and I have never felt that way about anything in my academic career!
If you guys have already taken the ATS-W, what did you think about your exam? Did you feel prepared or did you feel the same as me, that many of the responses were appropriate, but you can obviously only fill in one bubble? If I do fail, will it go on my academic record FOREVER, or will I just have to retake it? I am just feeling horrible, because I even did the practice exam and did well!
If I do pass, how will I ever learn the 'right' response to the many situations posed in the exam? It scares me that I may enter the field with only common sense in my arsenal, when I would really appreciate a foundation of theory or at least best practices. HELP?!?!
4 comments:
First of all - don't worry. I took that test and felt the same way. Plus, it had been about 5 years since I had formally studied education. I was worried that my responses were tainted by my experiences, and that the correct answers were based on some teaching textbook. I passed. I can't remember my exact score, but I wasn't even close to failing, even though I felt very uncertain about whether or not I had passed.
I'm surprised that some of the real-life situations you mention have not been addressed. However, your student teaching may provide you with some of these experiences. When I student taught, my cooperating teacher allowed me to observe and even participate in some parent-teacher conferences. Dealing with administration is also something good to address with your cooperating teacher as she surely has recent and relevant experience. My personal experiences in terms of dealing with administration have been widely varied. Dealing with ELLs is something you have already begun gathering experience with. Don't underestimate the value of your substitute teaching experiences. You have learned about ELLs and you've learned about lessons that need revising or fine-tuning (the computer lab situation).
I guess the gist of this comment is that you've got some valuable experience and clearly good intuition. Common sense isn't everything, but it's pretty essential to teaching and very hard to learn. Don't worry. You're going to be great.
ps/ Remind me when we see each other next that I have something to talk to you about.
Charm, You raise a number of important issues in this post. Some of the areas of uncertainty you share here would typically not be addressed in an MAT progam w/a focus on Eng. Education. These topics are often addressed in intro to ed courses on the undergraduate level.
Some of these topics call on one's common sense and experience in schools and not material learned in education courses.
You will do well, I know that. I would not worry.
And you're right, some of the questions are certainly ambiguous.
It's impossible to distill the complex work of teaching into a multiple choice test. In fact, I find it ludicrous that we attempt to do so.
This test functions more to block those who may be grossly unprepared to teach.
Those tests, I think it fair to say, are complete BS. I felt the same way and passed. I also do feel as though some of the ins and outs of how schools and classrooms are run would be helpful for us...I still feel like I have no idea what's coming...
Charm-
I took it on Saturday too and felt the exact same way as you do. Alex was done a whole hour before me. It took me forever to read through all of those questions and answers. I hated every second of it and didn't feel prepared either. I know Karen said that some of the issues wouldn't be typically addressed in our program for most of us it's our first time with education classes. We don't need anymore lit. classes, we need special ed, maybe classroom management, how to deal with inclusion, etc. Clearly our Foundations class was a waste.
You're lucky to have subbing under your belt. We'll all be fine...even though I'm terrified too! : )
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