This time of year is always a stresser for me. In two weeks my students will be tested to determine if I actually taught them, or made them dumber. Pretty stressful when they bust out the bar graph and present it to you like a life evaluation which determines success as a human being. Yuck!
My thing is, I don't believe in the test or the process. Do I think teachers should be held accountable...yes! Do I think testing is a good idea....yes! The problem is that it's only one test, one day, once per year. So, if little Johnny wakes up and decides he doesn't really feel like making a valid effort on the test, my butt is to blame by assuming he didn't learn and I'm at fault. It's also a little stressful that math and language arts are currently the state tested subjects. Pressure. Pressure. Pressure.
I rest assured in one simple thing every year.....I adore my kids and they return the adoration. To me, I've done what some other people never can in life. I literally impact my kids and I thrive on the fact that parents and students will share with me how successful they have become as an overall person. Now how can that be measured into a bar graph??
Praying the kids "feel" like having a good test day May 16th!
Wow---4 years of teaching down....crazy!
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