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This is just a test...
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30 April 2002
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Don't worry your mind
When you give it your best
One two one two this is just a test
(Beastie Boys - "Just a Test")
Well, it's that time of the year: SAT-9's. As many teachers (and parents, I might add) do, I abhor standardized testing. Although I can see the merit it *some* of it, there are just too many negatives that kind of negate the few positives.
Fortunately, I don't stress out over it, so neither do my students. The whole school is like that, which is much to our principal's credit. I just sit here and watch the students trying hard, knowing that my top students will get some of the easy problems wrong...for several reasons. The questions on the test are not asked in a familiar way. It’s not how the students see the concepts questioned in our textbooks, on our activity sheets, and it’s not how they see them on our regular tests. The same language is not used; it’s not consistent.
I would venture to guess that most of the students would do much better on their scores if some of the questions could be reworded (by us teachers or whomever.) But we can’t do that. Do some teachers do that? I’m sure there are some, but I take the rules of this testing very seriously. If I didn’t, I could find myself in a whole heap of trouble, not to mention the school getting in trouble and therefore the district! Yikes! No way. I will follow the directions, thank you very much. I can see how it’s tempting, though. Watching a student fumble on a question that I *know* s/he knows is really hard. It’s especially hard for me to see those in-between students miss ones that they know – just because of the wording. Dern it!
I read Athena’s journal entry regarding her son’s school beginning their testing, and she had some good points, too. It’s especially interesting reading or listening to the viewpoints of parents. In the short time that I have been reading online journals, hers is amongst a few that I truly respect and learn from. (That’s really hard to write without having the sentence end with a preposition, dagnabit!) Her thoughts and opinions on the school, teacher, and tests were interesting for that fact. Initially I was a bit put off by her words. I mean, teaching is my profession so I am going to be a bit guarded and defensive of it. After I finished reading the entry, though, I found myself nodding my head and actually agreeing with her.
During testing, many teachers feel the need to give the kids a break in homework. That’s not a bad thing. Because we spend a good two hours testing each day, the rest of the day is thrown out of whack, and it’s hard to do anything that is ‘normal’. Therefore, no homework is given. It’s intention is to free the kids of any stress so that they can test well. No, I don’t believe that it skews the test scores any. It’s just that so many kids have such anxiety about such a thing. In my class they receive little information about it – no prep work, nothing to raise that level of anxiety. I give them a pep talk on the days of the test, wanting them to just do their best and try their hardest. That’s all I ask of them. We do what we do throughout the year, and they know what they know.
However, I have to agree with Athena that even just reading every night isn’t too much to ask. I stray from the general consensus at our school; I give them homework. Granted, it deviates from our normal homework, but it’s keeping them responsible for the week. They are reading the book Stuart Little this week and next. At the end of the story, they will create something to demonstrate the story – a diorama, an alternate ending, a play, a book report, story illustrations. This is the first time that I am doing something like this, but when I was planning my week a while back, I decided that I was going to do this during testing. It’s the perfect time!
The kids are loving it! They are excited about the project that they’ll be doing for it, and I am equally excited to see what some of them will come up with. Although we are farther behind in our schedule than I would like to be (a third-grade epidemic this year – a whole other entry!), I wanted to give the kids a chance to do something a little bit different. I think it’s good for them. So, yes, they are getting homework, but it doesn’t seem to be stressing them out at all. Quite the contrary.
Here’s to good test scores (only because the district cares)!!
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