Teach Like Your Hair's on Fire (Chapters 6 and 7)

Teach Like Your Hair’s On Fire:

Chapter 6 (We Won’t Get Fooled Again) and Chapter 7 (What a Wonderful World)

Chapter 6 of Teach Like Your Hair’s On Fire is on standardized testing, and is chalk full of statements I think we can all agree with. Rafe asserts that, “the standardized testing obsession that has swept our nation’s schools is schools is detrimental to helping children reach their potential as students and human beings.”

Rafe acknowledges a need for exams to test knowledge, but points out several problems with standardized tests. He explains that students are burnt out and no longer care, because of how many tests they are given. They also don’t see their results for a very long time, and when they do, aren’t able to go over what they did right or wrong. He also notes that the tests are not truly “standardized,” as they are administered by a teacher in his own classroom. Some, he says, even help their students cheat by giving answers or more time. Perhaps most shockingly, he suggests that the testing services want the students to fail, as they profit off of the fear of failure.

Rafe outlines his tips for success with regards to testing. He mentions study techniques, consequences, and test taking skills. His most important points are that students should be taught to study effectively and apply good test-taking skills, parents and teacher should impress upon students that they will love them no matter the results, and students should know that these tests are only to measure a skill, and bad test results won’t ruin their futures. He also talks about how scaring children only serves to hinder their academic performance, and that test results don’t measure the most important things in life: “character, honesty, morality, and generosity of spirit.”

Chapter 7 makes a shift back to content. Rafe discusses history and geography, and how they are not taught nearly as well or as much as they should be. He comes up with several good suggestions for how to work it into curriculum. Some of my favorites include: talking to students about what holidays mean when they come up, discussing current events, and working in Geography with history.

It is important that young people understand the world around them, and outside of the bubble of their city, state, and even country. Rafe suggests www.worldatlas.com, as an excellent tool to help children learn to identify countries and continents. He also suggests using games (like one called “table points”), showing films, and playing speeches, which can often be found online.

He finishes up with fun projects that parents can do with kids, and a fun project teachers can do with kids. Parents who take their children on trips can purchase a little book called “Passport to Your National Park” on www.eparks.com, which helps young people learn about the United States. As for a class activity, Rafe explains that his classroom has a poster of all the state license plates with bits of the Preamble written on each one. His class makes their own license plates out of paper and do the same thing as the poster (based off an art exhibit) which helps them gain a better understanding of both the Preamble of the Constitution and the 50 states.