The Closing of a School Year

Closing the School Year

Author: Manuel R. CortezRodas

For most of us, in education, this is the time in which we close the school year.  A journey that began close to 9 months ago is now ready to continue as it goes on, developing an educational path for students to continue to travel on.  Students have been with us for the length of the school year, others have left us, while others have just joined us this year.  Yet we, as educators, take them all into our classrooms, and do our best, to share with them, the knowledge we know how to educate them on.  Each educator using all their skills and abilities to make sure that each student has access to the knowledge we have, the knowledge we believe they should know, the knowledge that will help them continue on in life as they make decisions constantly.

Closing the School Year

As educators, we must acknowledge that we have a limited time in which to educate students, and that this time comes to an end.  As the school year comes to an end, so too comes the time and day in which we have to close the school year.  We must turn in our grade books and complete all the school paper work, we must also be fair with our student's work and grading scale.

Saying Goodbye

Over the year we have share a significant portion of time in our schools, in our classrooms, and with our colleges, and students.  This is a time for us to sometimes say goodbye, knowing that it may be the last time we either see or say something to them.  The ones we have confidence in, that we know are strong students and should have the tools to succeed, are the ones we take pride in when we say goodbye to them.  But the ones that we fear for, and we see as fragile, are the ones that make saying goodbye like a shield giving rite.  We hope the best for them.  That they be able to continue to grow, and be given a chance to become strong.

Memories

No doubt, we have also created and accumulated memories throughout the school year.  These memories are diverse and varied, and serve as a reminder of moments in time which have some learning significance to us: Our first day in school getting ready to welcome back students, seen some of them there already, ready to start learning.  The individual and collective solutions that they came up with to solve that challenge we presented them with.  Field trips, fundraisers, indoor recess on ill weather days, and days that were just ill.  All this are memories that we will carry with us as we move on with our education, and we continue on with traveling the path.

Separation

We will become separated from those with whom we have spent an entire academic school year.  We hope that all of us have played a significant part in what will become our academic lifetime.  Throughout the school year, bonds have formed and develop between teachers and students, students and students, teachers and teachers, and many other bonds that have help strengthen our educational experience, and have made it a positive one.  Now we must separate a bit from each other, to allow for growth, and allow for development.

 

Storing

Now, at the end of the school year, we begin the process of storing that which we want to treasure.  We separate memories as we say goodbye not just to our students, but to a whole school year which is now concluded.  We store these treasures and keep them safe, as one day soon we may need them, as we depend on them for wisdom and advice, for many school years to come.

Copyright 2013.  MRCR Educational Consulting Firm.  All Rights Reserved.

When to Evaluate Education

A Time for Education Evaluation

Author: Manuel R. CortezRodas

When to Evaluate Education

As education is learned it should also be evaluated.  Education should be evaluated over time at a constant rate.  Just as time is constant, the time for education evaluation should also be constant.  Time for education evaluation needs to be scheduled so that it is clearly known when education evaluation will take place.  From daily five minute warm-ups to annual 12 hour examinations, we hope that the right time for educational evaluations also coincides with the right time for students to be evaluated on their education.  It is also important that we acknowledge that time limits have a limit, and this will have an effect on the results of the evaluation.

Time

We must set a limit on the time in which students are evaluated, and take into consideration that the evaluation must be collected, counted, and corrected.  Three time frames are of great significance when evaluating education: Administration, Assessment, and Application.  Administration time begins when the need to evaluate is agreed upon, and the process of developing a time-limited evaluation, that is fair, is completed and administer to the learners.  Assessment time includes the preparation of educators and learners on how to execute the evaluation, how to secure the evaluation once it has been administered, and how the results of the evaluation will be presented.  Application time begins with the results of the evaluation, and continues on as these results are studied, analyzed, and apply for the betterment of the educational learning process.

In a limited educational evaluation, the learner has a limited amount of time in which to remember what they know about what they are being evaluated on.  It presents a challenge of knowledge and time.  Students must be able to manage problem solving while being aware of the total time allowed, the time needed to solve problems, and the difficulty level of the problem.  Students who develop the skills of recalling knowledge learned over time, and can apply it to solve problems in the time given, will see the results of their educational evaluation to be at a level that is greater than those who do not develop these skills.

A Time to Evaluate Education

With limited time, we can only achieve a limited evaluation.  With a limited evaluation, can only achieve an incomplete assessment.  With an incomplete assessment, the results of our evaluation will also be incomplete.  When we evaluate education, we must also remember that there is a limit to the evaluation due to time constrains.  This time constrains also set a limit on the knowledge that we can evaluate from the students.  By making sure the knowledge that we evaluate in education is clear, measurable, and balanced, we can make sure that the educational evaluation of our students will be fair and will benefit them in their education.

Copyright 2013.  MRCR Educational Consulting Firm.  All Rights Reserved.