Testing Week Over

I should be writing about how overjoyed I am, but I have come to love testing week. Here's why:

1. Unlike the week of testing years ago, I've had the opportunity to work with my students, condition them for this week, and prepare them with test taking strategies. As a result, they're a joy to be with.

2. I get the same class all day, so it's kind of like working in elementary school.

3. The students and I aren't being smothered by the burden of prescribed curriculum. We get to do cool activities that nourish other parts of their intellects.

4. Re: number 3: When I write "cool activities," I didn't actually mean testing itself. Although it is cool to fill in bubbles on a scantron, and show how well you've learned how to take tests.

5. We get ice cream.

6. We get to attend a cool assembly where the staff and students are brainwas- er...pumped up for testing week.

7. We get to see, for the first time in months, that select group of teachers who are highly valued on campus. Since they are busy with other things, they don't get to teach a homeroom/testing class of their own. This is the week they walk the halls, and duck their heads into our classes and offer to be of assistance. I'm sure one of them will be visiting my class soon.

8. Although it's Friday, and the day is half over.

9. And 7th grade isn't actually testing today.

10. Not that I needed any assistance.

11. After the students leave, we get to participate in staff meetings. This is where the real behind the scenes work of teaching is done. We meet by department, roll up our sleeves, and plan for next year. This involves combing through a fifty page document called our Plan for High Priority Schools. It is the masterful plan for turning the school around. It details all of the ways we will work with our students next year to get them up to at least Basic in all subjects. It will be choc full of new strategies.

12. Well, so far I haven't come across any new strategies, but I'm told it's a work in progress.

13. It's generally a time of refreshment for students and teachers alike.