Ever had one of those weeks? Let me tell you, this has been one of those weeks. For those of you not acquainted with the joys of standardized testing, try to imagine using one of those disgusting nose thingies on a room full of stuffy-nosed babies who are hungry and cranky and haven’t had a nap…in days. Still not ringing any bells? Okay, how about giving a bath to a twenty pound, fully-clawed cat that’s never had one…and isn’t in favor of it in the least? Surely the picture is becoming clearer now…right?
To be honest, it wasn’t like that the whole week…only during the testing part. Please, little Johnny, pick up your pencil. Please, little Johnny, pick up the pace. Please, little Johnny, pick up your head! Hey, don’t get me wrong. Assessing educational progress is a good thing. So I guess, in a way, standardized testing is simply too much of a good thing! In any case, this leg of it is over now and we’ve survived and tomorrow there will be a special lunch to celebrate the accomplishment.
I think meatloaf is the intended entrée. For some reason that just strikes me as really funny. I guess, in my mind, meatloaf just doesn’t qualify as celebration fare. You know? I can see telling a school full of kids that they’ve done a great job and will be rewarded with a barbeque cookout or spaghetti blowout or pizza pigout or some other kid-friendly menu. Somehow, saying, “Hey, kids! Here’s a slab of meatloaf just for you!” just doesn’t elicit the same enthusiasm. But it does make me laugh and shake my head.
And maybe that’s a perfect ending for a week like this anyhow.
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This is what greeted me when I opened the door at my house and I thought, “I know exactly how you feel, buddy.” The good news is…I will recover from this week. The little guy in the photo won’t be so fortunate.
In fact, as I was clicking away with the camera, caught up in the luxury of this welcome distraction, somebody decided she’d shared her toy long enough.
Yep, he’ll be in a body bag (garbage bag) by bedtime.
8 comments:
I am reminded of the old Saturday Night Live skits. I can see Mr. Bill in exclamation, "Oh No!"
I hope you have managed to avoid the "steam-rolled" feel all week, and only feel knocked around a little. I hope the weekend will give you a chance to recover!
Hi, Bryan! That's funny! I CAN see Mr. Bill in that photo! I should have drawn a speech bubble that said, "OOOOH NOOOO!"
Things are quiet here this morning. I stayed up late, reading, and woke up late too. Probably not as therapeutic as BASEBALL...but, yes, I'd say I'm well on my way to recovering. :) Thanks!
You deserve a good weekend. We had some eventful times yesterday. The principal announced school was going to end early because of tornado warnings and sightings not so far away. So ALL the elementary, jr. & high school students ate early. Teachers called parents and everyone started going home. Then the principal changed her mind, so you can imagine the mess. And my day ended with a way-ward 6th grade girl (mad because she didn't get to go home with a friend)lied about how she usually got home. The principal and two of us stayed to try to locate her and meet with the parents that were mad at the school for not knowing what this young girl was doing. Go figure! Weekends are GOOD! And much needed!
Wow! What a nightmare! I won't go into a rant about having to deal with decisions that are made without anyone else's input. So often it's the ones who DIDN'T make the decision that have to clean up the "mess" created by those decisions. Okay, maybe just a little rant! :)
Testing weeks are usually more like hurricanes than tornadoes. There is always lots of high wind, swirling debris, and uncomfortable adjustments that have to be made, but they are SOMEWHAT predictable and, therefore, can be prepared for ahead of time. Tornadoes, on the other hand, pop up suddenly, create chaos, destroy almost everything in their path, and then disappear. Hard to prepare for that...just have to deal with the aftermath. :(
I hope the weekend is restful and recuperative for you as well! :)
Love you!
Am I happy that I was out of that situation this year??? YES!!!
The new teachers with whom I work were so surprised at how tired THEY were at the end of the day. If adults are exhausted, then you know that students are, also. I am sooooooooo old, that I remember when we actually gave and graded our own tests. We gave them in the fall to build our instruction and then in the fall to measure what students had learned. No pressure on anyone...So nice!
Definitely not the pressure cooker standardized testing has become.
Wow, Johnny! Imagine that! Giving tests to actually determine what children have LEARNED. I wish it still worked that way. The drill these days has so very little with real student needs/achievement. I think that's a big part of the exhaustion factor for me. And, if they really wanted to know what kids are capable of, they would consider how hours and hours of testing skews the results. Okay, I can't talk about this long or I start getting angry.
I am SO happy for you that you no longer have to submit to such nonsense. I'm sure your knowledge is a HUGE help to the teachers that you work with, though.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts! :)
we had a great standardized test week at our school. door prizes for being on time. fruit and juice for snacks during break. all the time you needed to take the test. kids were asking me the day after the reading test, have you graded my test yet? how did i do? sorry, i'll let you know in may, though. everyone worked hard. i'm expecting some good scores. in fact, if anyone in my reading class scores 400 or higher on the reading portion, they get to teach class for a day. (that's a pretty safe deal for me. we'll be mostly proficient, but 400 would be a pleasant surprise for most of them.)
good news, you don't have to do it again for a year! miss you, chica!
Hey, Girl! Great to hear from you! I'm glad to hear that the testing at your school was a pleasant experience. Our kids worked hard as well, but the length of the tests really gets to them. We did the snack thing too, but doorprizes are a GREAT idea that we've never even considered. What kind of prizes did you offer? Especially that high school students would be motivated by?
On a different note, we need to catch up sometime soon! I saw Clara's haircut photos...so cute! She is really growing. Thanks for stopping by!
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