Harris 2000 Article

In the age where everything is based on the standardized testing, teachers are finding it difficult to teach away from the test, and teach the more creative or technological ways. Harris (2000) talks about how teachers should just be integrating technology into the curriculum and using it as a way to cover the standards in the core. He gives different examples of the teachers who used multidisciplinary internet research projects that cover many different areas for different subjects. The students and teachers are getting to effectively use technology and still are working on preparing for the standardized tests.

I think that if teachers are going to attempt to teach by integrating technology, then they need to learn to do it effectively. I don't think that teaching to the test is ultimately going to get the students anywhere, but I think that if the teachers aren't effectively using the tools at their disposal, then they aren't really sending their students anywhere either. The reality of our situation is that we're stuck in the high-stakes environments, and our students really do need to be prepared to take these tests, even though we hate it and it's a sucky thing. But if a teacher can efficiently teach their students to pass the tests while using other forms than "teaching the test" then more power to them. The scary thing is that too many teachers can't make both work, and they have to rely on teaching the test to get them through.