Stuff happened today. The day started with make-up tests, quickly
followed by another State Assessment. That was my morning. The
Assessment went pretty fast but one of the third graders there from
earlier working on a MAP test was in the lab until lunch when I had
to pause his test.
This afternoon there was a first grade MAP test. First and second
grade have easier questions but they are broken into two sections of
thirty-five or so questions. Some kids sail through it and get
crappy scores. Other kids take their time and do well. And the rest
spent way too much time. Luckily it was a good testing day for first
grade and there was only one slow poke, and she wasn't really that
slow.
Shortly after that girl finished, we had a fire drill. I was given a
little heads up on it because the fourth grade teacher, who was the
acting principal today, asked came to check with me ahead of time to
make sure we wouldn't be testing. It was kind of chilly out with a
bit of wind but it was nice to get out of the lab for a few minutes.
Sometime after getting back in, the third grader came back to
continue working on his MAP test. The teacher of the other third
grade class wanted her kids to come to the lab and I said that was
fine as long as they were quiet because of the kid testing. When
they came to the lab she gave them a speech about being quiet and
then went back to her room because she was getting a science
experiment ready for them. A little while ago second graders went a
bit nuts when they were left alone with me in the lab. Now we can
add third graders to that list. There were a few kids who were quiet
the whole time and a couple others that got quiet after a one or two
requests. And then with the rest of the kids I was having to make
almost constant circuits around the lab asking kids to be quiet and
it wasn't very effective. I finally got tired of making “this is
your last chance” statements so I shut the lights off to get their
attention and told them if they couldn't stay quiet I was going to
send them all back to their classroom early. That worked for a few
minutes and the noise level came back so I called it. I told them
all to exit out and log off and go back to their room. Some of them
made comments about how they were going to get in trouble and others
asked if it was because they were talking. And my response to both
was “Yep”. It has taken me to the last few weeks of the year but
I'm kind of getting tired of the lack of respect students tend to
have toward non-teachers. I am also tired of people, students and
adults, not having any respect for kids testing. Within the last few
weeks I have sent one third grader to the office, gotten a bunch of
apology notes from the second graders, and now I have sent a whole
class back to their room. Who knows what will happen in the next few
weeks.
As for that lone third grader trying to take his test. It took him
almost three and a half hours off and on but he ended up getting a
score on his Math MAP test that was higher than what any of the fifth
graders got on the Winter MAP test. That is really impressive. I
remember him taking forever on his tests last year, and he has
followed suit this year, but he can back it up with scores. I
appreciate that a lot more than the kids who take forever and don't
get a score that reflects that amount of commitment.
When I wasn't watching tests or kicking third graders out of the lab,
I started work on editing a drawing that one of the fifth grade
teachers gave me. She wants to turn it into card art, and since I
made all the card art earlier in the year, she came to me. I got a
decent start on it and I might be able to finish it up tomorrow but
that depends on testing. I think we have at least two tests and
possibly some make-ups mixed in their. I can't wait for testing to
be over.
Tonight I didn't have a lot going on. I finally finished typing a
letter to a friend, that I started writing back in March, and will be
able to mail that off tomorrow. Along with another check to pay yet
another bill from my kidney surgery. It should be the last bill.
Hopefully. I've lost track at this point but I'm fairly certain at
least a quarter of my yearly income has gone into this one,
forty-five minute operation. Ridiculous.
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