Chris Bang

BRMS TWS
Final Reflection
This is my culminating reflection to explore experiences that were not necessarily
contained within one month. I will reflect on student absences, standardized tests, and the idea
of fairness.
Absences are something that teachers must consider, but approach differently for each
student. That said, I am frustrated up by the necessity to accommodate students that were absent
while still progressing the unit, and curriculum. This aspect of teaching is not something I was
aware of in my Practicum Placements, but become hyperaware of during this placement. I will
talk about this topic with two typical types of absences. The first type of absences is easier to
deal with; that is, the type of student that rarely misses school and then takes a trip or becomes
very ill and misses a large chunk of school. These types of absences are less common, but are
easier to deal with, I have learned. In order to approach these types of absences in a more
effective way, I might have modified assignments for these instances so that students can have a
quicker and easier time getting caught up. The second type of absence is the more problematic
and challenging type of absence: the student that is habitually and sporadically absent. This type
of student is typically the type of student that is resistant or unwilling to do school work in the
first place. It becomes even more challenging trying to catch up these types of students, because
they are likely going to be gone again and will not have done the make-up work assigned them in
the first place. In the future I most make plans for both of these types of absences, so that I can
readily continue my teaching while accommodating the absent students. Because one aspect of
schooling that students are extremely concerned with is the idea of fairness.
My cooperating teacher imparted this gem of wisdom: life isnt fair, but teachers are
supposed to be. Students are obsessed with fairness, and the more fair you can be in your
management and implementation of instruction the better. That said, the idea of fairness is as
elusive as it is subjective. What is fair to one student can be unfair to another. In the future
when I make modifications in instructions for students with differing skill levels, I will do my
best to attempt to be fair without letting the ramification of being unfair cloud my judgement too
much. It is a part of my teaching philosophy to allow students to direct the pace and destination
of the curriculum, so I am not overly concerned with being fair to my students. But I find it
unfair when I must accommodate my lessons, and waste energy getting habitually absent
students up to date, just have them fall behind again. This idea of fairness is a pertinent topic to
transition into my experiences with standardized testing.
I have learned that most teachers are as enthused about standardized testing as the
students are. That is to say, standardized testing is an unfair way to assess educational
effectiveness, because of the way that it is structured. I had experience with three types of
standardized testing while I was student teaching at Bill Reed (district reading/writing, PARCC,
& CMAS). I will focus primarily on my experiences with PARCC. Though it is difficult to
suffer the negative consequences of educational effectiveness, by having your students do poorly
on the test associated with Educational Effectiveness, it is still unfair the way it is implemented.
PARCC, like other test, offers parents the option to omit their student from testing. This agitates
me, because it is typically the students that can make a positive impact on the scores of these
tests that often opt out. The lot that is left are students whose parents are likely unaware of the
specifics of PARCC and how it can impact teachers. Most students are aware of how little

PARCC impacts them; therefore, they feel little incentive to put forth adequate effort. That is not
to say, that all students left testing after the opt-outs leave the testing room are just filling in
answers. But, the students that would typically just fill out answers are often not the students
opting out. I do not know how I will approach this aspect of education in the future. I am torn
between emphasizing to my student the impact that these test have on teachers, because I want
them to feel invested because its a test, and not because my job depends on it. On the other,
making students aware of the impact that tests like PARCC have on teachers could be the proper
incentive that they need in order to put forth genuine effort. That is to say, if you are making
connections with your students, then they will likely be more willing to put forth effort on tests
such as PARCC.
These are the things I found pertinent and impactful about my experiences at Bill Reed
Middle School. These experiences will shape me as an educator, and I will never forget the
memories of the people at this school. I will be forever grateful for my time here.