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Showing posts from April, 2023

I Have Mixed Emotions About Standardized Tests

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[Image Description:  Picture of a classroom ]   There are many different types of standardized tests and diverse controversial opinions about standardized tests. Typically, public schools use their standardized tests for funding while private schools use them to assess each student's academic and functional skills. For example, during my time of doing my Field Experience at the Bryn Athyn Church School in Bryn Athyn, PA, my third graders took the Iowa Assessments back in April. The third graders are assessed on the following skills when taking the Iowa Assessment: Vocabulary, Reading Comprehension, Spelling, Capitalization, Punctuation, Usage and Expression, Math Concepts and Estimation, Math Problem Solving and Data Interpretation, Math Computation, Social Studies, Maps and Diagrams, Reference Materials, Word Analysis, and Listening. In addition, when I was in first through third grade, my peers and I had to take the Terra Nova exams. When I moved to Murray Avenue School,

Book Review: "Thinking in Pictures (and other reports about my life with autism)" written by Temple Grandin

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[Image Description: Temple Grandin on a book cover wearing a blue sweater, black pants, and white shoes with one small brown cow, small black cow, and a big brown cow in the background on a farm. Below the picture "THINKING IN PICTURES" is in navy blue text, "AND OTHER REPORTS FROM" is in black text, "MY LIFE WITH AUTISM" is in red text, and "TEMPLE GRANDIN WITH A FOREWORD BY OLIVER SACKS" is in navy blue text. ]      Bibliography: Grandin, T. (1995). Thinking in Pictures, and other reports from my life with autism.  New York: Vintage Books.     Temple Grandin is a notable female autistic self-advocate and the author of her autobiography called Thinking in Pictures, and other reports from life with autism . She has written many other books about her disability journey along with having "a Ph.D. in animal science from University of Illinois, and has designed one-third of all of the livestock-handling facilities in the United States, and many