WHACTE – West Houston Area Council of Teachers of English

Mr. Heyer — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 19:52:08 +0000

Last week, I went to the WHACTE 2009 Fall Breakfast.

I was most happy to hear that the new TEKS–which I have been leery of–are being assessed by a test designed by teachers. The TEA has selected teachers to figure out what parts of the new TEKS are even assessable. Also, until the new TAKS tests are deployed, the TAKS will only assess the overlap of the old TEKS and the new TEKS.

The speakers also reminded us of the TCTELA anual conference January 22-24, 2010, in Austin and the Abydos/NJWPT conference March 4-6, 2010, in Houston.

The food was good, too.

New Standards (TEKS) in Texas

Mr. Heyer — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 23:13:28 +0000

There was a whirlwind of emails earlier in the year, when us teachers were at our busiest, about the possibility of new TEKS in Texas. I was concerned because the TEKS I teach are very close to those that teachers from across the country have published with NCTE. The TEKS that we will be required to teach starting in the 2009-2010 school year were implemented despite concerns that other educators had voiced.

This year, I’ve been teaching these TEKS for 8th Grade:
http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/rules/tac/chapter110/ch110b.html#110.24
Next year, I’ll be teaching these:
http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/rules/tac/chapter110/ch110b.html#110.20
I’ll be spending time trying to compare and contrast them to see what I taught this year that I can salvage.

There is an NCTE article in the March 2009 Council Chronicle titled, “Teacher Advocacy: What Happened in Texas.” I haven’t yet formed a response.

Heyer Learning » NCTE

WHACTE – West Houston Area Council of Teachers of English

New Standards (TEKS) in Texas