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Reflection on State Testing

I went to bed last night thinking about how I really needed to capture all of my thoughts around these last 2 weeks. These last 10 days of school included hours from 6 days where we needed to administer state tests. I've kept up with what I've seen on twitter about testing over these last 2 weeks and have seen little that matches the experience of our school.

Earlier today, one of my teachers bravely posted about her experience in our school. Patti's reflection is a bold one as there are few that are willing to speak against the anti-testing machine. While we may not agree with all of the pieces that are used to make up state testing (we don't!) , the fact of the matter is our school was required to give them. We could have chosen to do this begrudgingly. Or, we could choose this opportunity to show students (and each other) the best way to face adversity.

We did the absolute best we could do to set up a positive environment for those taking the tests. Part of my role during these weeks requires me to monitor halls as classrooms are testing. As I walked around and peeked through glass windows on doors, I saw hard working, persistent, and brave students attacking each day of the test. Many of my homeroom teachers reported the same view. They were impressed by the efforts of students.

I do not pretend to think that my school's results will be enormously better than last year. And, I believe this will be impacted by the number of opt outs we had. Yet, we know we have room to grow and realize that kind of growth doesn't happen in a year. But, what I know to be true is we supported our students as best as we could AND we supported each other as best as we could.

We rallied.


We discussed perseverance.


And then, last night, the students let off some steam at a dance sponsored by the Sophomore class.
This week, our school will get back to our normal routine. Yesterday, I described it as "back to our reguarly scheduled program". Because that's what it is. We'll be back to teaching all things middle school including recovering from mistakes, celebrating strengths, overcoming adversity and academics. Some of those lessons will be formal ones with lesson plans and some will not. However, each opportunity will matter.

Thank you CMS for a job well done these two weeks. We took the path that was right for us.

Two Roads via http://www.wingclips.com/movie-clips/big-fish/two-roads

Comments

  1. AnonymousApril 25, 2015 at 10:53 PM

    Way to put a positive spin on the testing. The rallying activities are definitely not the norm! Well done!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. UnknownMay 31, 2015 at 7:41 PM

      I'm way too late to thank you for the comment. I appreciate your support and thankful we are connected.

      Delete

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