How to NOT Feel Like You Are Teaching to the Test [Episode 158]

Rebecca 0:00
Midterm season is approaching, and I know many of you feel the weight of balancing how to best prepare your students for success while also not teaching to the test. And I know that this feeling is even stronger for those of you who teach courses that feel higher stakes due to the standardized exams that you have for them, whether that’s an EOC, an AP exam, whatever it may be. So the question becomes, how do you strike the right balance between, you know, quote, unquote, good teaching and the pressure of making sure you’re getting students prepared for the test, how to not feel like you’re just teaching to a test. So that is what we’re going to be talking about today. Let’s get into it. This is secondary science simplify, a podcast for secondary science teachers who want to engage their students and simplify their lives. I’m Rebecca Joyner from it’s not rocket science. As a high school science teacher turned curriculum writer, I am passionate about helping other science teachers love their jobs, serve their students and do it all in only 40 hours a week. Are you ready to rock the time you spend in your classroom and actually have a life outside of it? You are in the right place. Teacher friend, let’s get to today’s episode. You

Rebecca 1:23
I think the number one thing we have to address here, right off the bat, before we get into some real specifics with this issue, is you need to decide what matters most. Deciding what matters most is one of Kendra Adachi, lazy, genius principals. Y’all know, I love her so much. It’s something I talk about a ton on this podcast, and it’s something I talked about at the end of my interview last week with Elise of Keystone science. If you missed that episode, episode 157, it’s so good. It’s primarily focused on, you know, serving your ELL students, and ways you can do that with AI and without but there’s also a ton of other advice she has in there about flipped classrooms, and there’s AI in general, even if you don’t have a lot of ELL students. So it’s definitely worth a listen. But we talked at the end about this idea of what matters most. It is so essential that you have so much clarity on this. I have found this principle to be so valuable for me in my work life, in my former teaching life, and in my home life and and this changes what matters most can change. That’s the freedom of it. What you decide matters most now doesn’t have to be what matters most next school year, because it’s good. What matters most is going to change based on the season of life that you’re in. So when I have a newborn, what matters most? You know now that I have my youngest is two and a half, those priorities are different. And there are seasons of your life where your home life priorities are going to far outweigh those that you have at work. And so I find that the most valuable thing is to really drill down on your core values. Is what I like to call it. This is a term I learned from my husband when he transitioned into small business coaching four years ago. And it’s a concept of really figuring out what at your core is your value, especially with regards to work. And you can also change these of course. So the first unit of my secondary science, simplified professional development course, is the core values unit. And if you listen to last week’s episode, Elise mentioned that’s how we first got connected. She took the SSS course, and it’s, you know, original ideation back in I think she was in it the 2021 cohort. She might have been in the 2022 but I think she was in 2021 and since then, I’ve revamped it. It’s no longer in a cohort model. There’s no longer live teaching, but the content is the same. It’s just accessible all the time. And you can also purchase it in smaller increments. You can just purchase the core values, unit and not the whole thing, if you don’t want the whole thing. But the core values is first, because it’s the most important for you to decide what matters most. She talked about in last week’s episode two, the freedom she’s felt now that her school, she teaches in Pennsylvania, now that they’ve really officially switched to NGSS, the freedom she has. There are a lot of pros and cons to NGSS. I think one of the major pros is the three dimensional nature of it, and the real emphasis on those science and engineering practices alongside the content, and then the cross cutting concepts is seeing the connections between all the different content. But the SCPs are my favorite part. And one of the things that you could argue is a pro or a con is the lack of specificity in the content. In the DCI says disciplinary core ideas, yes, there are assessment batteries and clarification statements, but they’re gonna be a lot more clarification statements, if I’m honest. And so one of the things that it was interesting to talk to her and hear her saying, like, I feel so free because I’m so much more focused on skills and, like, a holistic teaching method now that I’m an NGSS, and I’m not worried as much about, you know, the content, especially. Actually with her on grade level students. And those of you who use my resources, you know that they are NGSS aligned, but they have a lot more detail than the NGSS requires. I saw a quote recently saying, you know, the NGSS is the floor, and you can go up to the ceiling if you want, but it kind of covers the bare minimum. I added in extra content. I was actually talking to a teacher about this today, with the rationale, because after I switched to NGSS, I realized then, when I was tasked with AP Bio, that there was a lot of detail that my students were at a deficit for not having any background knowledge on. And even though AP Bio has moved to so much more skill based, it still helps. So I added in I have more detail I cover, especially with honors, and I don’t think it hurts them to see but there’s a freedom there. And if you don’t get to it all, it’s fine if you’re focused on these other skills. And so I love hearing her perspective on that, but that’s just her perspective, and that’s where you have the freedom to decide yourself what matters most to you. Is it your students passing this exam, the EOC? Is it your average on the EOC? Is it your AP exam pass rate?

Rebecca 6:03
Is it your that no one in your class fails? Is it getting through all the content? Is that the most important thing to you? I can’t answer this question for you, but the first thing I want to challenge you to do in this episode is to decide what matters most to you in your classes. And if you need support in doing that, I highly recommend checking out the core values mini course, it’s virtual PD. You get two PD hours for it, and I think it’s good stuff. I’ll link it in the show notes. But first you need to decide what matters most. The second thing you need to do is you need to show what matters most in how you run your class. I have found oftentimes that a lot of people are really clear on their priorities and their goals. Maybe you’re having to articulate those for your admin every year, so you’re in good practice with that. But then when you actually look at your classroom, and you look at the instructional resources you’re choosing and the time that you’re allotting for certain things, and the sense of urgency you have about some things, not others, and when you look at what you choose to grade versus what you choose not to grade, it doesn’t reveal alignment with what you’re saying matters most to you, and I think our students can sniff that out entirely. But I also think this is where we feel a lot of tension, where there doesn’t have to be tension, and it’s because we’re saying one thing and we’re doing another. Our actions and our words need to reflect that what matters most really does matter most. So let me give you a really specific example. If you say that the most important thing to you is that your students pass your class, and they pass this ese exam, then all of your effort should be put into like drilling this content, we should see that for them passing the class, you’re constantly giving them opportunities to improve their grade, replace test grades, etc, like, if that’s your number one priority, that they pass your class, and you’re not giving all the effort to make sure that happens, maybe that isn’t what matters most to you. Now I’m not saying you do it for them, because that would totally contradict what we talked about back in episode, I think it was 155 was when we talked about active and accountable learners. You know, I’m not saying that, but I just an example of oftentimes, we say one thing and we do another in terms of how we run our class. For me, what matters most to me right now is really wanting students to think critically and have life skills that they’re going to use outside of my classroom. And this is a shift for me. I used to care a lot more about getting through all the content and getting through all the instructional resources that I was so excited to use with students, and this is a newer shift in my life. And so if that is how I really believe that, then I need to be willing to slow down and do instructional resources like inquiry activities and investigations that take more time, but really get those skills developed, as opposed to worrying about getting through all the content. And so I challenge you to really audit what you’re doing and to ensure that your actions are reflecting your intent and your declared priorities of what matters most in your life. And I really believe, if you are really clear on what matters most, and then what you’re doing actually reflects that, then your students are going to naturally pass the test. I know a lot of you are worried about the standardized test you have and making sure you’re doing the right things for that, and not just teaching to it and feeling like you’re a robot, and so I want to specifically encourage you that to ensure your students are going to pass the standardized test, first, you just need to know your standards, and you know them really well. I find oftentimes the anxiety around standardized assessments is the unknown. So if you know your standards and you know how the test is structured, you know you know what percent is going to be on different content that is going to equip you so much knowledge is power. I think also focusing on skills over content. I think it can be really overwhelming to think I can’t get through all this content, but I have noticed over the years, there’s such a shift in all these standardized tests towards critical thinking and analyzing models. That’s which is developing and using models is it? Sep and the NGSS, a lot of these tests these students can pass and be successful on if they just have strong reasoning skills. And so really focusing on those skills and not worrying as much about the content, I think is, in general, a safer strategy if you’re trying to decide how to move forward. I also think two other really specific things I’ll say is match the style of your exams, your unit tests, to what this final exam is going to be, or what this midterm is going to be, or this EOC, or whatever. Use the same writing style, even if you don’t like how the questions are written. I recommend using questions that are written for AP from the College Board, so that they’re getting used to that language. I think that’s one way we can naturally build in that practice without it taking up a ton of extra time. So I highly recommend that I actually have an entire episode about preparing students for standardized exams. It’s episode 104 so I’ll link it in the show notes for you. But the last thing I think, too, is so you’re not I just don’t want you guys constantly worried. Am I doing enough to prepare them for the test? Like, maybe you have no problem identifying what matters most to you and and aligning your instructional resources and how your classroom culture to that, but then you have this ongoing anxiety. Like, but is it enough? So for you, I will say something I’ve quoted many times on here before, is that a very wise person once told me, anxiety begs action. So if you’re feeling anxiety about something, it often helps to take an action step towards it to relieve that anxiety. It’s the build up and the anticipation that’s the worst of it. And so what I recommend for you is, if you’re always worried you’re not doing enough here for your standardized test prep is build in time throughout the year for it and right before the exam. So maybe it’s Hey, the last three days of the quarter before quarter grades, they’re going to be my buffer days that kids can catch up on, like late work, that they have for me that I can get in the grade book. We’re going to stop whatever we’re doing three days early, and then we’re going to use those three days just to have some standardized exam prep time. And then it also serves as a buffer time for your students not acquire new information, get all those late scores made up, that kind of thing. And then you maybe you say, and I’m going to block off two weeks before the actual exam at the end of the year. So no matter what, we’re just gonna stop. We’re gonna treat those as protected time for this exam, and then it frees you up all the rest of the time, any day that you’re like, Oh, should we be doing more for this EOC? You say, No, we shouldn’t, because I know that I’m gonna have these days coming up, and we’ll review for it, then we’ll do test taking strategies, then we’ll practice multiple choice. Then I think building in that time is really helpful. I know a lot of AP teachers who do fru Fridays and just say, hey, like, maybe it’s not all of your Friday class period. Maybe half of your friday every friday, or the first 30 minutes is devoted to them doing an frq. And then you guys talking through it. And then, you know, Hey, maybe I do need a we need more time to work on this lab on Friday, but first we’re going to do fru Friday, because that’s what we said we’re going to do. And I’m going to build in that time to relieve anxiety that I’m not doing enough about this exam. So I really want to encourage you to do that as well if you’re worried that you’re not teaching enough towards the exam. Now, on the other hand of the spectrum, there’s those of you who in this pendulum of trying to find balance, you know, of prioritizing what matters most to you, which may not be the exam, but still adequately preparing students for exams, whether they’re standardized or not. Maybe they’re just your own exams, and you want them to do well on your upcoming midterm, or whatever it may be. And you’re striking that balance of, like, how do I do this well, like teach well, but not just cookie cutter, hand them over the information. How do I do that? Well, I’m going to share basically exactly what I shared in episode 155 we’re going to hold students. We’re going to make them active in their learning, and we’re going to hold them accountable for it. So we’re not going to give them a study guide that’s identical to the test. We’re not just going to give them all the test questions in advance. Maybe you want to give them your essay question or your open response, that’s your prerogative. But if you’re worried that you’re teaching too much towards the test, that’s an easy solution. Just don’t give them like a filled in study guide or even a fill in the blank study guide. That’s the test that’s not really making them have to be active or accountable. So I think if you can avoid that, that’s an easy thing to kind of check the box of like, okay,

Rebecca 14:26
I’m not teaching to the test that much. Now. What do you do instead? Exactly, again, what I shared in episode 155 you get super clear on your expectations, and you consistently communicate those towards your students. You make your instructional resources student centered, so that they know your classroom is a classroom they have to be active in, that they will be required to engage in and speak and do stuff in and actually prepare for your exams in, you offer tools for support. You build and review days, you maybe you give them an outline for a study guide. You list out the objectives of what’s. Can be covered on the test. You build in some after school review periods leading up to it. And then, once you’ve done those things, you hold them accountable by holding the line of your expectation. You don’t make it easier. You don’t add in a curve. You know, you don’t at the last minute, just decide to make the whole thing open note or whatever, and then you just let the rest be up to them. I want to give you the freedom of for those of you who are struggling with this balance of like, I want to be a good teacher, but I feel like, if I’m doing things the way, I feel like I should be doing it, then I’m not preparing them for the test. And I want you to take a deep breath. I want you to identify what matters most to you, be really clear about that with your students, do that both with the words that you’re speaking to them, but also in action, by running your classroom in a way that reflects what matters most to you, in the instructional resources you choose, you know, in the what you choose to grade, and the time you spend on different things. And accept that this is a tension that you have to live in. But there’s balance here if you’re really, really clear on your goals, and then again, if you’re worried about whatever the standardized exam is, that maybe your admin are like, constantly pressuring you about know your standards build in time in your year that you know is going to be dedicated specifically to supporting students and preparing for those specific exams, and then take the pressure off of your day to day lessons y’all so that you can focus on what you believe matters most and know that like you’ll have the space carved out in the future to worry about the test and not feel like you’re having to teach to it. Give yourself that freedom get really, really clear for yourself, and get really, really clear for your students, and I think you will have no problems being a great teacher. And I think those of you who are really worried about this, like, Am I doing well enough? Am I being a good teacher? Am I teaching too much the test? You know, these are a lot of the questions I see people kind of spiraling about in my DMs. I would say, if you’re worried about it, you’re a good teacher, because that just shows you care. So I have some links to some of those previous episodes that I think might be helpful for you. You can find them in the show notes at it’s not rocket science classroom.com/episode, 158, and if you have a midterm coming up and you need support with it, you don’t want to write your midterm, you don’t want to make review materials. I have exam packs. Add them for biology, anatomy, chemistry and physical science. Of course, they’re aligned to my own curriculum, but they’re all my tests are always editable, so you can edit those and tweak them, and it can be a really good starting place for you. If you’re feeling overwhelmed by that, you don’t need to feel overwhelmed by that. Oh, leave a review, please. If you haven’t already. I hope this episode encourages you, and if so, if your students have a midterm that they’re going to take for your course, or you maybe have a final exam because you’re on Semester block, go ahead and leave a review if you haven’t yet for the podcast. I would love to hear from you, all right, teacher friends, that wraps up today’s episode. If you’re looking for an easy way to start simplifying your life as a secondary science teacher. Head to It’s not rocket science classroom.com/challenge to grab your classroom reset challenge. And guess what? It’s totally free. Thanks so much for tuning in, and I’ll see you here next week. Until then, I’ll be rooting for you. Teacher friend.