Testing, Testing!
It's standardized testing week at Wherever Schools (and all other Michigan schools). It's very strange. We do testing of some grades for three or four hours, then the rest of the students are expected to come in for the rest of the school day. Absentee rates this week, as you may imagine, skyrocket.
We're in the second year of testing completely by computer. By any measure, this is easier for me. All I have to do is make sure the right kids are in my room, log into the test web site, and start the test. That's pretty much it. No collecting and checking answer sheets. No counting test books. No security procedures. When the test is over, the students leave and we're done.
I know the computer test is a logistical nightmare for the district, which has to make sure every student has access to a computer during the test, deal with tech support, and a host of other computer-related issues. I'm not involved in any of that, though, so I just glide on through.
The two-hour instruction period, however, is just ... weird. One day we have hours 1-4 for half an hour each, then we have hours 5 and 6 for a full 60 minutes, and on the third day we have hours 1-4 for half an hour again. It's difficult to keep continuity, and anyway, most of the students don't show up. I'm coping by showing hour-long videos. Hours 1-4 have their split in half, but so what?
It makes for a slow, dull week, really, but you rarely want excitement when you're teaching, believe me!
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We're in the second year of testing completely by computer. By any measure, this is easier for me. All I have to do is make sure the right kids are in my room, log into the test web site, and start the test. That's pretty much it. No collecting and checking answer sheets. No counting test books. No security procedures. When the test is over, the students leave and we're done.
I know the computer test is a logistical nightmare for the district, which has to make sure every student has access to a computer during the test, deal with tech support, and a host of other computer-related issues. I'm not involved in any of that, though, so I just glide on through.
The two-hour instruction period, however, is just ... weird. One day we have hours 1-4 for half an hour each, then we have hours 5 and 6 for a full 60 minutes, and on the third day we have hours 1-4 for half an hour again. It's difficult to keep continuity, and anyway, most of the students don't show up. I'm coping by showing hour-long videos. Hours 1-4 have their split in half, but so what?
It makes for a slow, dull week, really, but you rarely want excitement when you're teaching, believe me!
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