Everyday Educator - Blue Books as Celebration with Emily Martin
00:00:00.000 | Welcome, friends, to this episode of the Everyday Educator Podcast.
00:00:08.820 | I'm your host, Lisa Bailey, and I'm glad to spend some time today with you as we encourage
00:00:15.360 | one another, learn together, and ponder the delights and challenges that make homeschooling
00:00:22.240 | the adventure of a lifetime.
00:00:23.840 | Now, whether you are just considering this homeschooling possibility or deep into the daily delight
00:00:31.540 | of family learning, I think you'll enjoy thinking along with us.
00:00:36.180 | So don't forget that although this online community is awesome, you'll find even closer
00:00:44.180 | support in a local CC community.
00:00:46.960 | So go to classicalconversations.com and find a community near you today.
00:00:54.520 | All right, listeners, here we are creeping ever closer to the end of our academic year.
00:01:02.720 | For many of us, community days are coming to a close.
00:01:06.960 | And I know that there are some foundations communities that have already had their last hurrah.
00:01:14.660 | Their celebration, their faces of history, their awards and goodbye ceremonies, and a lot of
00:01:22.320 | our challenge students are still plugging away, working on those last minute projects and those
00:01:28.380 | last papers and mock trial and senior thesis and all that good stuff.
00:01:34.780 | But I know that for many of us, the end of the year also means that we are looking at assessing
00:01:43.700 | our students.
00:01:44.900 | Some of our students, especially our challenge students, are experiencing blue book exams.
00:01:52.400 | And some of them, for the very first time, are doing what we call blue book exams.
00:01:57.820 | Some of them are a little freaked out and some of their parents are a little worried, too.
00:02:03.480 | So I have with me a dear friend, fellow homeschool educator, Emily Martin.
00:02:10.560 | Emily, thank you for joining us today.
00:02:13.000 | Thank you for having me, Lisa.
00:02:15.280 | Emily and I have a little bit of experience taking our own children through the assessment process,
00:02:23.700 | but also shepherding other families and challenge students through the blue book process.
00:02:30.120 | So I thought we would just debunk some myths for some people and spread a little good cheer
00:02:37.320 | and encouragement for all of us.
00:02:39.480 | So Emily is going to help me answer some questions.
00:02:43.300 | Now, listen.
00:02:44.740 | Even though your young children may not be involved in blue book exams, many of you are
00:02:52.460 | concerned about assessment or taking stock at the end of the year.
00:02:57.460 | So we're going to talk about that, too.
00:02:59.180 | So this podcast is not just for junior high and high school students who are taking blue
00:03:05.280 | book exams, but for everybody.
00:03:07.260 | OK, so let me let me ask you this first, Emily, so people can get to know you and your
00:03:12.820 | experience.
00:03:13.380 | How did you feel about taking tests when you were a student?
00:03:19.300 | I was one of those that had maybe a little bit of test anxiety.
00:03:25.340 | I did not.
00:03:26.860 | I did not enjoy taking tests.
00:03:29.480 | And I would have to study hard to even feel like I knew a little bit of what I was doing.
00:03:36.120 | Right.
00:03:36.840 | And I remember the first time I took a test and I sat down and I looked at it and I thought,
00:03:42.900 | I actually know the answers to this.
00:03:45.740 | I was in college.
00:03:47.860 | I was in my sophomore year of college.
00:03:51.340 | So I just was not one of those great test takers.
00:03:55.620 | Yeah.
00:03:55.900 | And so I never, never enjoyed it.
00:03:59.340 | You know what?
00:04:01.000 | A lot of people say that.
00:04:03.040 | I know I've met lots of students who are great learners.
00:04:09.820 | You know, they read, they absorb information, they participate in class, they enjoy the give
00:04:17.220 | and take, the wrestling with a good idea.
00:04:20.000 | They don't perform really well on tests.
00:04:22.740 | So a lot of people aren't good test takers.
00:04:25.940 | And there are skills involved in test taking.
00:04:31.640 | And that may be something, parents, that you are interested in giving your children more practice with.
00:04:38.700 | Homeschoolers are notoriously low on formal testing.
00:04:44.020 | So maybe the truth is our students don't have as much practice taking tests and taking different kinds of tests.
00:04:53.040 | So there's nothing to say that we can't give our students tests as fun, as games, as practice.
00:05:01.580 | Not that we're going to score them and keep that as a record, as a mark for or against them, but giving them opportunities to play around with tests.
00:05:11.960 | So maybe they're not as nervous as many of us were.
00:05:14.780 | Right.
00:05:15.700 | Yeah.
00:05:16.120 | And I was one of those that I, to answer factual was difficult.
00:05:21.180 | And I preferred an open-ended question so that the teacher would know.
00:05:25.960 | Yeah.
00:05:26.480 | Like, oh, okay.
00:05:27.360 | She knows what she's talking about.
00:05:28.780 | I always preferred those versus the matching or fill in the blank.
00:05:33.560 | Oh, my gosh.
00:05:33.940 | And I hated what I used to call multiple guess test.
00:05:37.700 | The multiple choice where, you know, there were four answers and three of them were sort of close to right.
00:05:45.260 | And it was just really hard.
00:05:47.180 | That seemed like, to me, as a student, that seemed more like a test designed to trick me than to help me remember
00:05:56.940 | and put together all the stuff I had learned.
00:06:00.320 | So I didn't like those either.
00:06:01.400 | I much preferred short answer or essay so I could tell all the things I knew.
00:06:06.080 | And then you decide, teacher, if that's enough.
00:06:08.540 | Exactly.
00:06:09.480 | I like that.
00:06:10.500 | So we talked about test.
00:06:13.460 | But I want to explore with you, Emily, a little bit.
00:06:17.460 | What do you think is the difference between a test and an assessment?
00:06:23.660 | Yeah.
00:06:25.260 | So I think I looked up the definitions of both test and assessment.
00:06:29.660 | Oh, cool.
00:06:30.000 | And they are really quite similar.
00:06:31.980 | Yep.
00:06:32.680 | I think where they differ is the connotation.
00:06:35.240 | So a test is like that multiple choice, the fill in the blank, where there is a black and white, you know, get right or wrong answer.
00:06:44.420 | This is the answer.
00:06:45.840 | Yeah.
00:06:46.580 | So you think about a medical test, right?
00:06:48.600 | You're either positive or negative.
00:06:50.960 | Right.
00:06:51.520 | Whereas assessment, you're trying to get the big picture.
00:06:55.920 | Ooh, that is a lovely difference.
00:06:59.120 | So talk about that.
00:07:00.300 | Yeah.
00:07:00.860 | So like my daughter does dance, right?
00:07:03.040 | And she's really wanting to go on point.
00:07:05.660 | Well, her dance instructor is going to have to assess her to see whether she's developed enough.
00:07:12.900 | So that doesn't mean there's a right or wrong way of doing it.
00:07:16.680 | It just means, are you ready?
00:07:18.240 | Yes.
00:07:19.140 | Versus like an assessment.
00:07:20.140 | Like when you have a situation, you're like, well, let me assess the situation.
00:07:24.180 | There's no black or white yes or no.
00:07:27.380 | It's more gathering information.
00:07:30.640 | Yes.
00:07:31.720 | I absolutely love that.
00:07:35.220 | Listeners, I hope you'll wind back because that's kind of a profound difference.
00:07:39.840 | With a test, you're looking for a black or white answer, yes or no.
00:07:43.580 | Did you, student, land on what I, teacher, thought was the right answer?
00:07:50.680 | Right.
00:07:51.480 | Versus, yeah, the assessment is tell me what you know.
00:07:57.440 | Let's look at the big picture and let's dive into those ideas.
00:08:01.360 | Yes.
00:08:02.720 | And I think an assessment can involve not just what all you know, but how much more do you
00:08:09.860 | know than when we started?
00:08:11.480 | So let's assess our progress even more than let's assess, do you have a big enough body of
00:08:19.640 | knowledge on this subject for me, your parents feel good about?
00:08:23.960 | I love, I like that with, in relationship to our Challenge A students, very first day of Challenge
00:08:31.900 | A, they are told, you are going to, by the end of this year, learn to draw the world.
00:08:37.360 | And their eyes get really big.
00:08:39.500 | And so what a lot of Challenge A tutors do is they'll hand them a blank piece of paper and say,
00:08:45.300 | okay, draw the world as you know it today.
00:08:48.420 | And they are, it's, it's rough, you know, it's, it's not a pretty picture.
00:08:53.440 | And then at the very last day for their Blue Book assessment, they are said, they're told,
00:08:58.820 | draw the world.
00:08:59.960 | And the difference is astounding.
00:09:02.000 | And I think that's a great picture of the overall assessment for the year.
00:09:06.300 | It's like, look how much you learned.
00:09:08.940 | Right.
00:09:10.160 | Look how much better you are at spatial recognition and spatial organization.
00:09:18.360 | I can remember when my own girls got to Challenge A and they had to do that the first time.
00:09:25.780 | You know, I mean, some of the countries that were supposed to be big were small.
00:09:30.780 | And some of the countries that were supposed to be close to another were actually not that
00:09:35.540 | close to that other country.
00:09:37.300 | And some of the oceans were too big.
00:09:39.000 | But you're right.
00:09:40.700 | The assessment is, how have you grown in your ability to think deeper thoughts or to put more
00:09:50.600 | things together or to employ this skill in a more polished way?
00:09:58.660 | I love that.
00:09:59.760 | And I do think, well, like I said before, that homeschoolers tend not to test.
00:10:07.700 | And I understand that.
00:10:09.740 | I think that some of us actually drag our feet on assessing also because we have such a negative
00:10:20.540 | connotation and because we have always made those the same testing and assessing the same.
00:10:27.320 | So even when those of us who lived the testing life as students and became the, came to the
00:10:36.620 | assessing life as homeschool parents, we still have a little bit of a stumbling block, I think.
00:10:43.100 | Yeah, I think that we can learn to assess better and make that a little more joyful.
00:10:50.980 | And let me ask you this.
00:10:53.760 | Okay.
00:10:54.180 | I ask all my guests pointed questions.
00:10:57.680 | And so usually it's people that I know, and I know you won't mind answering honestly.
00:11:03.280 | And I always tell people, I want you to tell the real truth, not, you know, what you think
00:11:09.960 | the prescribed answer should be because there are no prescribed answers here.
00:11:14.220 | So here's the thing I want to know, Emily.
00:11:16.580 | Do you do assessments every year with your kids at home?
00:11:22.200 | So yes and no.
00:11:25.240 | When I have challenged students now.
00:11:29.860 | And so my challenge, my oldest is finishing up challenge one.
00:11:34.400 | So this is the third year we have done formal assessment as far as a blue book.
00:11:39.840 | Okay.
00:11:40.460 | Assessment.
00:11:41.080 | Okay.
00:11:41.600 | And so that is one way that it's kind of built into the CC program is that end of the
00:11:45.940 | year assessment.
00:11:46.480 | So that has been done.
00:11:48.260 | My other two have gone through foundations.
00:11:53.240 | And so there's the memory master in the end.
00:11:56.160 | And there's the faces of history, which acts, you know, very much like an end of the year
00:12:00.640 | assessment.
00:12:02.080 | But we're also a military family, which means for the past six years, we've lived in four
00:12:07.500 | different states.
00:12:08.340 | Wow.
00:12:08.820 | And every state has their own type of assessment, requirements, laws and requirements.
00:12:15.580 | So some states, such as Florida, you had to either do a standardized test at the end of
00:12:21.960 | every year or you had to have your portfolio checkboxed by a certified teacher.
00:12:28.180 | And so I chose to do this standardized assessment with my students.
00:12:32.460 | In Georgia, it was once every three years.
00:12:36.580 | So we were only there for two.
00:12:38.240 | So I opted to not do formal assessment that year.
00:12:41.140 | And so, you know, I think it depends on, for one thing, I think your homeschool goal as a
00:12:47.880 | family, whether or not you decide to assess the laws of the state in which you live, the
00:12:53.620 | age of your students.
00:12:54.660 | If you have a six-year-old, you know, maybe just, you know, it may not be as academically
00:13:00.880 | important to have like a formal assessment at the end of every year versus your 11th grader
00:13:07.960 | who is filling out college applications and they need to turn in a piece of paper.
00:13:11.520 | So I think it varies.
00:13:14.340 | But me personally, it just depends on the year and where we live at the time.
00:13:19.920 | And so with my challenge students, you know, we, you know, we'll do the end of the year
00:13:24.220 | blue book assessment as our formal assessment.
00:13:27.020 | Right, right.
00:13:28.260 | I think that's really good.
00:13:29.800 | And I'm glad that, that our listeners can hear that there is, as always, freedom in the way that
00:13:36.820 | you're homeschooling your children.
00:13:38.100 | You are right.
00:13:39.400 | Every state has their own requirements.
00:13:41.140 | Here in North Carolina, you are supposed to take and turn in the score of a standardized test
00:13:49.080 | for each student every year.
00:13:51.160 | As far as I've ever been able to determine, there's no prescribed score and nothing.
00:13:57.620 | I'm not completely sure that anybody ever looks at these scores, but anyway, we did them.
00:14:03.180 | But I love what you said about it being somewhat dependent on the age of your child.
00:14:12.340 | I know when my children were in challenge, there were blue books at the end of the year to assess
00:14:22.980 | the progress that the students had made.
00:14:25.800 | But I know that in those early years, we didn't do beyond that formal standardized test.
00:14:33.140 | We didn't do a formal assessment.
00:14:36.200 | But I did, I remember sitting down with them.
00:14:40.580 | Now, maybe not when they were six, but as they got a little older, sitting down with them
00:14:45.620 | and asking questions to assess how successful our year was together.
00:14:52.780 | Like asking them, you know, what project did you like to do the most?
00:14:58.020 | What, which of the strands, which of the memory work strands was the easiest for you?
00:15:04.960 | Which was the hardest?
00:15:06.600 | Why do you think it was hard?
00:15:07.920 | What were you most interested in reading about after we studied it together?
00:15:13.220 | You know, just to see how their interest changed during the year.
00:15:18.420 | It was really interesting to me that sometimes the thing they thought they were going to love
00:15:23.580 | the most at the beginning of the year is not what they loved the most.
00:15:27.720 | And sometimes the things that they avoided at the beginning, they really enjoyed as we got
00:15:36.380 | into it.
00:15:36.960 | So those are the kinds of informal assessments that I think all of us can do.
00:15:43.160 | And it helps our children have a hand in that assessment.
00:15:47.680 | Yeah.
00:15:49.460 | When I'm reading with my daughter, who's still, you know, foundations and essentials age,
00:15:54.520 | we'll read a book together, you know.
00:15:57.560 | And so I'll say, hey, do you remember when, you know, three months ago you struggled reading
00:16:03.820 | this book?
00:16:04.480 | And now look, you can do this now.
00:16:06.680 | And so, so that's kind of, you know, like her doing a self-assessment, me prompting her
00:16:12.020 | self-assess and say, look, look at your growth.
00:16:15.020 | Let's remember where you struggled and now look what you can do.
00:16:18.420 | Yeah.
00:16:19.120 | Oh, Emily, that's beautiful.
00:16:20.680 | And I think parents, even if your children are doing blue books in community, it is wise
00:16:28.620 | to have an assessment time, an assessment conversation with your older students.
00:16:34.360 | And the questions get a little more heart intrusive at that point.
00:16:42.080 | I mean, I remember asking my girls, do you think you have done your best?
00:16:48.620 | You know, we would talk about maybe strands that were more of a struggle for them.
00:16:56.640 | And I would say, do you think, was that your best?
00:16:59.920 | Because if that was your best, if you honestly feel like you worked as hard as you could to
00:17:05.780 | achieve what you did, whatever you learned in this year was an excellent effort.
00:17:11.800 | And we are happy with that.
00:17:14.160 | But, you know, it teaches them, too, to assess their own efforts.
00:17:19.380 | If they know they didn't really try very hard or they skated through on some base knowledge
00:17:27.400 | of something they just happen to be good at naturally or that they like, that becomes a
00:17:33.260 | character issue that, as parents, we can use assessment time to probe also.
00:17:40.100 | Yeah.
00:17:41.240 | I like to ask my students, what is something you did really well this year?
00:17:45.160 | And how can you improve?
00:17:47.380 | And what ways can you improve for next year?
00:17:49.740 | What would you like to try harder at doing?
00:17:52.280 | And it's amazing.
00:17:54.340 | I don't think our teenagers naturally self-assess or naturally think about those things.
00:18:02.320 | So you have to prompt them to think about it.
00:18:05.240 | And they often, I would say, nine times out of ten, when I ask them those questions, they
00:18:13.100 | identify the things that I saw as well, things that they did well or things that maybe just
00:18:19.160 | wasn't their best this year.
00:18:20.580 | So they know, but you just have to prompt them to think about it.
00:18:23.860 | I think that's good.
00:18:24.960 | I think it's a good looking back and looking forward is a beautiful part of assessment like
00:18:30.500 | you brought up.
00:18:31.880 | Um, so how long have you directed, Emily?
00:18:36.260 | How long have you directed in community?
00:18:38.120 | Um, so I did two years as a foundations tutor and I am finishing up my third year directing
00:18:44.820 | challenge.
00:18:45.540 | So you have a fair amount of experience with assessing within the community.
00:18:52.000 | How have you practiced assessment in class with your students and have you changed as you have
00:19:02.380 | grown?
00:19:02.740 | Because here's the truth.
00:19:04.360 | We all are continuing to grow.
00:19:06.960 | I'm a much better assessor than I was 10 years ago because I've learned and I've grown and
00:19:14.920 | I've seen that some of the things I thought were important are not really important.
00:19:18.560 | And some of the things I was leaving out are the things I need to bring up.
00:19:23.300 | So how have you changed as an assessor?
00:19:26.120 | Yeah.
00:19:27.000 | So, um, I am a product of public education.
00:19:30.600 | My degree was elementary ed.
00:19:32.940 | So, um, I'm very, you know, my, when I first started homeschooling, that was very much my
00:19:38.260 | mindset.
00:19:38.800 | You're like, let's do unit studies.
00:19:40.640 | And I wanted to do school at home versus homeschool, which is really different.
00:19:46.620 | Um, so my first year directing challenge, uh, like, okay, you have to write a blue book.
00:19:52.100 | Okay, great.
00:19:53.400 | I can do this.
00:19:54.320 | And, and instead of doing what I should have done and looking in the back of the guide to
00:19:58.600 | find great blue book, uh, questions and prompts, I, uh, scoured the internet and I made
00:20:05.620 | up a great test and it was matching and fill in the blank, but I kept trying to tell my
00:20:13.500 | students, it's a celebration of what you've learned, but they were very black and white,
00:20:18.380 | right and wrong answers.
00:20:19.760 | Right.
00:20:20.020 | It did not feel celebratory to them.
00:20:21.980 | I bet.
00:20:22.280 | It was not celebratory.
00:20:23.340 | It was very stressful.
00:20:24.160 | And, and then I decided to go through the classical learning cohort, which is really a fantastic,
00:20:33.120 | uh, class program that CC offers for parents to go through.
00:20:38.200 | And we learn a lot about assessment and what are good assessment questions.
00:20:42.420 | And so that started my journey of thinking more classically.
00:20:48.080 | Uh, and then through more, more reading and, uh, listening to some of your other wonderful
00:20:53.240 | podcast guests and articles on the CC blog that transformed my thinking into, wait, what is
00:20:59.940 | more classical?
00:21:00.920 | How, how can you assess more classically?
00:21:03.100 | And that's where, um, just this year I, I learned what a classical assessment looks like.
00:21:10.700 | And so when, uh, our director at our current community, you challenge a director, it's her
00:21:15.020 | first time going through.
00:21:15.920 | She's like, Emily, can I see your blue book for challenge A?
00:21:18.960 | I'm like, great.
00:21:19.460 | Yeah.
00:21:19.680 | I'll send it to you.
00:21:20.740 | And I opened it to read through it.
00:21:23.020 | I messaged her back.
00:21:24.040 | I'm not sending you this.
00:21:25.440 | This is not it.
00:21:28.140 | I failed this.
00:21:29.920 | I was like, no, you are not getting this.
00:21:33.180 | I will, I will help you formulate some prompts for your students, but you are not getting this.
00:21:37.560 | Oh, isn't that, that's so beautiful.
00:21:40.580 | And so honest, I mean, we as parents are still growing in our understanding of how to shepherd
00:21:48.200 | the educations of our children.
00:21:50.040 | And if we're not changing and growing, then probably something's wrong because we don't
00:21:55.580 | all, all know everything.
00:21:57.640 | We don't know all the things that we, we ought to be learning.
00:22:00.860 | So give, give me a couple of, um, examples.
00:22:04.940 | We're going to talk about blue books, parents, listeners, I promise we're going to talk specifically
00:22:09.940 | about blue books, but Emily, give, give the listeners an example of what a classical prompt
00:22:17.500 | might be.
00:22:18.800 | Yeah.
00:22:20.340 | So, uh, one of my favorite things to do when I am prompting my students, um, is really for
00:22:27.660 | one thing, ask a lot about the exposition strand, which is our literature.
00:22:30.840 | And it's, uh, things like, you know, choose two or more characters and compare, uh, their
00:22:37.040 | similarities and differences in choices they made.
00:22:40.380 | Ooh, uh, or, um, if it's a debate strand, uh, particularly like for challenge one, right
00:22:47.400 | now we're discussing economics.
00:22:48.780 | So tell me about what you have learned about inflation this year and how does that relate
00:22:54.520 | to our economy and how has it related to our economy throughout history?
00:23:00.640 | Uh, and so then they can, they can tally in their American history, but they've learned
00:23:06.000 | in the beginning of the year, all the way through like the economics discussion, because we talk
00:23:10.460 | about all of that.
00:23:11.340 | And, um, and I think it's important, especially for our tutors to, um, make sure you're at,
00:23:19.580 | you're, you're formulating your assessment questions based on what you have discussed in community.
00:23:25.560 | Right.
00:23:26.040 | Versus, cause there are a lot of great questions out there, but if you're, if it's not something
00:23:30.400 | you've discussed, your students may not really know how to answer.
00:23:34.020 | Well, they may not know how to integrate it with the other things.
00:23:37.800 | And that's truly, I love what you were saying.
00:23:40.660 | I picked up on something that some of our listeners may have picked up on.
00:23:44.960 | You are formulating these questions, these prompts using some of the 15 skills that we are sharpening
00:23:54.720 | as parents and as students in our reading and in our studying.
00:23:59.160 | So I, I saw, I heard, um, relationship and definition and comparison in those examples
00:24:06.440 | that you gave.
00:24:07.280 | So those would be, um, if we just, as parents, if we thought, well, how do I come up with a
00:24:14.020 | classical prompt?
00:24:14.940 | If we keep those skills in mind, that's a great start.
00:24:19.340 | Exactly.
00:24:20.540 | Yeah.
00:24:21.540 | Um, so I think it's, it's more, um, and I think maybe the most basic way to explain
00:24:27.760 | a classical assessment versus, you know, a, uh, formative test in like the public school
00:24:34.340 | system is they're more open-ended.
00:24:37.320 | It's more.
00:24:38.560 | Yeah.
00:24:39.800 | Tell me about what you know.
00:24:42.500 | Tell me about what you know.
00:24:44.260 | And there are, it does get a little fuzzy, especially when you're talking about Latin,
00:24:49.240 | right?
00:24:50.100 | Yeah.
00:24:50.280 | I mean, you do have to, there are some things you need to know.
00:24:53.980 | Yes.
00:24:54.820 | That don't change.
00:24:55.960 | That aren't a matter of opinion.
00:24:57.520 | Right.
00:24:58.820 | Exactly.
00:24:59.260 | Such as, uh, let's write out the endings for the five declensions, you know, but you may
00:25:05.240 | not know every single one, but you certainly know a lot more of them from when you started.
00:25:09.100 | Right.
00:25:09.860 | And maybe you have keys to figuring out based on some of the other questions.
00:25:15.220 | Maybe you know enough to recognize it when you see it.
00:25:18.660 | Exactly.
00:25:19.820 | Yeah.
00:25:19.980 | Or let's translate this sentence and tell me what you know about this sentence in English
00:25:25.380 | and Latin.
00:25:26.020 | Oh, that's so good.
00:25:28.160 | Okay.
00:25:29.240 | So I want to be sure that we answer.
00:25:32.540 | Cause I know that some parent came on here because it was, it was called blue books.
00:25:37.580 | They're coming in here wanting to know what is a blue book exam.
00:25:41.680 | I never had a blue book exam until I was in college.
00:25:45.940 | I didn't know what in the world that was.
00:25:48.620 | And they were, by the way, mostly very much more like a test than an assessment.
00:25:54.880 | Although I will, I was a political science major, um, and a philosophy minor.
00:26:01.200 | And so a lot of them were, I mean, essay questions, but, but they still felt more like a test than
00:26:08.800 | an assessment.
00:26:09.480 | What is a blue book and why in the world do we call it a blue book?
00:26:14.040 | Yeah.
00:26:14.520 | So quick story.
00:26:15.660 | I, uh, I brought my boys, one of my daughter to, um, my old college last weekend.
00:26:22.360 | Oh, cool.
00:26:23.260 | And I was like, Hey guys, let's go through the bookstore just for fun.
00:26:25.780 | No offense to this higher learning facility, but, um, there were zero books in the bookstore
00:26:33.000 | that we could see.
00:26:34.080 | It was t-shirts and mugs and things, but they did have a rack in their school supply section
00:26:43.260 | and stacked up were blue books, blue books, like a dollar 75.
00:26:47.580 | And I was like, Hey guys, look at this.
00:26:49.820 | That's a blue book.
00:26:51.020 | So it is literally a blue book.
00:26:54.740 | Yes, it is a blind paper with a blue sheet of paper on top of it.
00:27:00.480 | And it says blue book and a place for your name.
00:27:02.420 | And that's it.
00:27:03.180 | That's why they call them blue books because they're covered in blue paper and it's just
00:27:06.380 | a notebook stapled together.
00:27:08.540 | Um, but how we use it in CC challenge is, you know, we have our students give them a list
00:27:15.540 | of prompts to answer based on every strand and tell me what you know.
00:27:21.960 | So what should our students know as they're coming in to these last weeks and, you know,
00:27:28.900 | in community, you are likely beginning to talk about as you prepare for the blue book final
00:27:35.440 | or for the blue book exam, what should students know about blue books?
00:27:41.480 | So I think, uh, a thought just came to me, um, and I want to touch on real quick.
00:27:47.640 | And then I'll answer that is I, for parents, more of the formal assessment happens throughout
00:27:54.960 | the year.
00:27:55.520 | It's, um, the math, you know, if they're still going through Saxon, some of our older challenge
00:28:02.120 | students are still going through the Saxon level math.
00:28:04.400 | Um, what are their, what are their grades on their math?
00:28:06.880 | They're writing their essays.
00:28:08.660 | Okay.
00:28:09.340 | Did you, did you knock off all these things that you need to do for your essays?
00:28:14.160 | Is the grammar correct?
00:28:15.320 | Is the spelling correct?
00:28:16.420 | Did you, uh, is your thesis well-formed?
00:28:19.320 | That's your formal assessment.
00:28:20.860 | Um, again, if they're doing the apology of sciences throughout our upper level challenge,
00:28:25.620 | they have those study guides, the test.
00:28:28.180 | Those are the formal assessments that your student will get throughout the year because
00:28:32.420 | they, at the end of the day, they do need to have a transcript, right?
00:28:35.160 | Uh, if they're going into, yeah.
00:28:37.060 | And you want to be sure the incremental learning is happening, that there's not, you, that you
00:28:42.900 | didn't miss a step that's going to cause you to stumble later on.
00:28:45.880 | Exactly.
00:28:46.540 | Yeah.
00:28:47.160 | So the formal assessment that, you know, they, you need, if a parent chooses to do the form,
00:28:53.420 | you know, more of a formal assessment that is generally happening throughout the course
00:28:58.000 | of the academic year.
00:28:58.900 | Now the blue book for the students is the opportunity to spew your thoughts and ideas
00:29:07.040 | that you have on these topics at the end of the year, uh, or mid-semester.
00:29:11.620 | We do one, you know, in the, we do at the end of the fall and the end of spring.
00:29:15.260 | So it's tell your parent and tell your director all your thoughts and ideas on this topic.
00:29:21.620 | There is no wrong answer.
00:29:24.060 | I did have one caveat for some of my students that were.
00:29:27.820 | Less academically astute.
00:29:30.700 | You will have to give me more than one sentence.
00:29:32.940 | Right.
00:29:35.180 | You do not have to fill the entire blue book, but it needs to be more than a page.
00:29:40.280 | And I need more than, I don't know.
00:29:42.380 | Right.
00:29:43.660 | Yes.
00:29:43.960 | And not in big writing.
00:29:46.100 | Don't try to fill it up.
00:29:47.240 | I'm writing twice as big.
00:29:48.960 | Yes.
00:29:49.180 | We know all of those tricks.
00:29:50.760 | It's like, I want complete sentences.
00:29:52.360 | Give me your ideas.
00:29:54.080 | I know you are.
00:29:54.700 | Sure.
00:29:54.900 | Okay.
00:29:55.340 | Okay.
00:29:56.440 | So you've, but you've hit on some really good things.
00:29:59.220 | Um, it is, the students need to know that it's an opportunity for them to think deeply
00:30:06.140 | about what you've discussed in class and connect things.
00:30:10.240 | Yeah.
00:30:10.640 | Yeah.
00:30:11.260 | It's also a time for them to carefully, um, communicate.
00:30:18.380 | They have been practicing clear communication.
00:30:22.060 | And so it is important that they use full sentences, that they kind of pay attention to paragraphs
00:30:31.040 | and topic sentences and theses and, and punctuation.
00:30:35.320 | And it is, it, it's an opportunity for you to be creative and sharing what you know, but
00:30:42.240 | you still need to follow.
00:30:43.300 | It's a formal, it's a form.
00:30:45.480 | And so you want to be sure that you are taking it seriously enough to do a good job.
00:30:51.980 | Yeah, exactly.
00:30:53.440 | And it's really interesting if you have a student moving up through the challenge levels to save
00:30:57.500 | those blue books too.
00:30:58.680 | Yes.
00:30:59.300 | And to go back and look, say, look how well you did, you know, here you're, you're, you
00:31:04.360 | were on the right track.
00:31:05.180 | But then by the time they move up into the challenge levels, they have some really great responses
00:31:09.960 | to these blue book prompts.
00:31:12.800 | I love watching, um, the thought process develop and, and I loved watching it in my own girls.
00:31:23.940 | They became, um, better and better at pulling in more strands, um, tying together.
00:31:32.000 | It's like, I remember telling, going upstairs one day and telling my husband, this really does
00:31:38.260 | work.
00:31:38.800 | This is amazing.
00:31:40.180 | They are really able to see the connections between things that on the surface have no
00:31:46.560 | connection, but because of what they've studied and talked about and wrestled with in community
00:31:52.160 | and the things that we've harped on at home and led them to, they are really making some
00:31:58.780 | good, um, comments and some good connections.
00:32:02.240 | I love that.
00:32:03.240 | So how do you tell your students to prepare for blue books?
00:32:07.860 | Um, I do give them throughout the last couple of weeks.
00:32:13.680 | Hey guys, let's, let's pay attention to this.
00:32:15.460 | This may be on blue book.
00:32:16.860 | Right.
00:32:17.260 | And a lot of parents like to see the prompts ahead of time.
00:32:20.220 | So I tried about a week or two before you send them, Hey, this is what's going to be on
00:32:24.460 | the blue book or tell your student to, you know, maybe read over these, these things again,
00:32:29.080 | because I'm going to ask them about it.
00:32:31.220 | And that way the parents know, do not, however, again, create the formal test and send that
00:32:38.060 | out to your parents because then the student will get it and memorize the answer key that
00:32:44.080 | you've also sent your parents.
00:32:46.020 | Yes.
00:32:46.500 | Not a good look.
00:32:47.720 | Not a good look.
00:32:48.460 | No, no.
00:32:49.180 | I made that mistake once.
00:32:50.580 | I'm glad that you said that about sending the prompts to the parents.
00:32:54.860 | Cause I was going to ask you, what do parents need to know about blue books?
00:32:59.040 | And, and I would think that they need to, a lot of parents that we deal with, um, only
00:33:06.500 | went the public school test route like you and I did.
00:33:10.660 | And so when they hear blue book, they think test and they may need to know that the way
00:33:17.440 | to assess classically is somewhat different.
00:33:21.500 | And so the preparation for that assessment would be somewhat different.
00:33:26.280 | Talk a little bit about how do we help parents know what they can do to help their students?
00:33:32.460 | Yeah.
00:33:32.980 | So, um, you know, if, if you, if your students, a director or tutor has not yet sent prompts,
00:33:38.680 | maybe just ask them, Hey, do you have, what's going to be on the blue book?
00:33:41.920 | And they probably already do.
00:33:43.220 | Most people plan several weeks ahead of time.
00:33:46.460 | Um, and then you can sit down with your student and say, Hey, you know, she said, this is going
00:33:50.940 | to be on the blue book.
00:33:51.740 | Let's have a conversation about it because honestly, you only get, the student only gets a short
00:33:56.340 | amount of time, maybe an hour per strand, um, and most are less than that.
00:34:02.260 | Um, so that the student can actually start formulating their ideas and think about it that way.
00:34:07.200 | They're not staring at an empty page, not knowing what to write.
00:34:11.020 | So to help the student start formulating those ideas.
00:34:14.620 | Exactly.
00:34:15.920 | Yeah.
00:34:16.700 | And I think that's very hospitable for the student because we are still talking about
00:34:20.100 | teenagers and even in college.
00:34:22.160 | I mean, most students know what's going to be on the exam ahead of time.
00:34:25.220 | Yes, yes, yes, yes, it is.
00:34:27.520 | It's, there are students who are just deer in the headlights if they see a prompt for the
00:34:33.640 | first time and haven't thought about it at all.
00:34:37.080 | Now there are students who've seen it before and still haven't thought about it at all.
00:34:40.980 | So for me, that's on them.
00:34:43.500 | But you're right, it's hospitable, um, to give them to kind of prime the pump a little bit
00:34:51.180 | and get the juices flowing.
00:34:52.980 | What do I think about this?
00:34:55.080 | What, how would I explain the conclusions that I've drawn so that they're not just starting
00:35:01.400 | cold?
00:35:02.920 | Exactly.
00:35:03.400 | That's beautiful.
00:35:05.380 | So I think from talking to you, I now really do understand that blue books can be a celebration.
00:35:13.440 | They can be a celebration of the year that you've had as a community, um, as a class, a celebration
00:35:21.560 | of what you and your student have done at home together.
00:35:24.960 | Um, how, give us some ideas.
00:35:29.440 | How can we help students and parents and communities see blue books as celebrations?
00:35:36.280 | And what could we do to make it feel like a celebration?
00:35:41.080 | Yeah.
00:35:42.900 | So I think it's, uh, opening the conversation, um, from, I mean, even foundations and essentials
00:35:50.340 | age to say assessment is a celebration.
00:35:53.140 | It is, it is to celebrate what our students have learned and how they have grown throughout
00:35:58.260 | the year and start that, that lingo early at an early age.
00:36:02.980 | Um, and then as they move into the challenge years, um, just remind them, Hey, there is no
00:36:09.020 | wrong answer on this.
00:36:10.880 | We, we want to know your thoughts and ideas and it should not feel stressful.
00:36:16.260 | It should feel like the opportunity to share what, you know, um, and then to make it look
00:36:23.140 | like a celebration, many communities, uh, do something fun.
00:36:26.480 | You know, usually those days are challenge only days anyway.
00:36:29.680 | Yes, I know.
00:36:30.740 | Yeah.
00:36:31.320 | And so it's, I mean, however, you know, whatever fits in your budget.
00:36:34.520 | Uh, we've done everything from just having a hot cocoa bar, you know, after the call assessment
00:36:40.440 | and pizza and just hung out at the church to, um, I, in a moment of insanity, I decided to
00:36:48.320 | take my, uh, challenge B students, uh, two hours away.
00:36:52.660 | We all hopped in my car and went two hours away and did some indoor rock climbing.
00:36:57.660 | And that's how we celebrate it.
00:36:59.120 | Oh my word.
00:36:59.300 | That's great, Emily.
00:37:01.880 | That's great.
00:37:02.940 | So, you know, just however crazy you're feeling that day, you know, and a lot of times it ends
00:37:07.380 | with a pool party or something, but, um, just a way to celebrate the end of the year because
00:37:12.220 | they have worked so hard and you are celebrating their, their year of hard work.
00:37:18.880 | And so whatever that looks like to your community, um, they make it fun and make them, help them
00:37:25.280 | associate that blue book equals good time afterwards.
00:37:28.720 | Yes.
00:37:29.420 | I think that's very wise.
00:37:31.160 | Um, and I do think that we do our students a service if we help them learn to self-assess
00:37:40.000 | and the self-assessment can be, did I do my best?
00:37:44.660 | Um, how have I grown?
00:37:48.680 | What skills have I gained or what skills have I sharpened?
00:37:53.180 | Um, what do I know more about?
00:37:56.500 | We want blue books to leave our students feeling proud of the effort they've expended and excited
00:38:05.640 | about what they've learned and what they're able to do.
00:38:09.260 | Maybe that they never thought they could do.
00:38:12.040 | Right.
00:38:12.600 | And I always tack on one question.
00:38:14.800 | Uh, usually it's in the research strand.
00:38:17.380 | Um, but how has studying research helped me to know God and make him known?
00:38:22.800 | Perfect.
00:38:23.860 | Or how has, you know, and just fill in the blank.
00:38:26.000 | How has whatever, studying this helped me to know God and make him known?
00:38:28.760 | Because I mean, that's our, that's our mission at CC is to help our students know God.
00:38:34.260 | And so to help them take a minute to reflect on how has this enhanced my faith?
00:38:39.900 | Yeah.
00:38:41.000 | Yeah.
00:38:42.080 | And that's all that.
00:38:43.760 | Yeah.
00:38:44.400 | Where did I meet God this year?
00:38:46.960 | Yeah.
00:38:47.420 | You know, where, how do I see him more clearly?
00:38:50.200 | How do I hear his voice?
00:38:52.260 | Cause God is always trying to communicate to us.
00:38:55.560 | I think the entire world and the purpose of education is to be able to communicate with
00:39:02.100 | God about what he's trying to communicate to us.
00:39:04.900 | Exactly.
00:39:05.420 | And I think that the more you dive into the literature that has been specifically curated
00:39:11.180 | for our, uh, curriculum and the research and, you know, as you move up, you get into the
00:39:16.400 | philosophy, you know, all the wonderful, uh, other things that come together.
00:39:20.600 | It's, um, it's really more integrated into everything, the knowing God.
00:39:25.520 | And so, yeah, just how, how has this year helped me grow my faith and how have I known God more?
00:39:32.140 | Yeah.
00:39:32.780 | And that is a beautiful celebration of a year.
00:39:36.520 | Thank you, Emily.
00:39:38.060 | Thank you.
00:39:38.660 | You have said some really profound things and have given us some really good ideas to
00:39:43.160 | chew on about blue books.
00:39:45.380 | Parents, I hope your minds are more set at ease about what a blue book is and what your
00:39:51.900 | student's role is in preparing and what your role is in supporting them as they prepare.
00:39:58.840 | If you are, if your head is spinning a little bit and you think, wow, I wish I had been assessed
00:40:06.680 | like this or I wish that I knew more about those classical tools that Emily used to develop
00:40:13.320 | those classical questions, those prompts, um, you should attend a parent practicum this summer.
00:40:21.080 | Every year in communities all over the world, uh, parents gather to practice those 15 skills,
00:40:30.400 | those classical tools.
00:40:32.980 | Um, so that we as parents can become better lead learners in the home, better shepherds of
00:40:40.000 | our children.
00:40:40.720 | This summer, we'll be practicing the classical skills, um, on math, on the math map.
00:40:47.960 | You may have students, um, in your home who are going to be diving into the math map for the very
00:40:55.020 | first time this year.
00:40:56.480 | Some of you have students who will be continuing in the math map.
00:41:00.460 | This practicum this summer will not only help you grow as a classical educator, it will help
00:41:06.920 | you get your hands on and dive into the math map a little bit.
00:41:12.900 | If you're looking for a parent practicum near you, go to ccpracticum.com.
00:41:19.980 | You'll be able to put in your zip code and find a like-minded community who's eager to grow
00:41:26.900 | and becoming lead learners just like you are.
00:41:29.520 | That's ccpracticum.com.
00:41:33.240 | And we will look for you guys at a practicum this summer.
00:41:36.240 | Um, Emily, again, thank you for being on and helping us to, to learn how to see blue books
00:41:43.260 | as a celebration.
00:41:44.460 | Yes, you bet.
00:41:46.080 | I loved it.
00:41:46.920 | And I love seeing your face.
00:41:48.540 | Oh, I'm glad to see you too.
00:41:50.240 | We don't get to see each other often enough face to face.
00:41:53.440 | All right, you guys, uh, we will see you next week.
00:41:58.280 | Bye-bye.
00:41:59.360 | Bye-bye.