The so-called 2nd worst week of the school year

At least that is what some of my colleagues are calling this. It is PSAE time. For those of you who grew up in Illinois that means state testing. In our state, it is Prairie State Achievement Exams which now also mean taking the ACT as a built in component.

The last two years as a sub, I proctored the PSAE to kids with learning disabilities. I read the test and sat in a room, one on one, with students for 3 days. A lot of that time it was agony, watching the choices some of these students made while desperately willing them to fill in a different bubble on the test scantron sheet. You have to work really hard not to read the test answer selections so that you emphasize the correct choice. And when my student would ask questions, as a teacher, it was hard not to try and help them reason out the answer. I wanted to make it a teachable moment right then and there. But I couldn't. This year I get a break from PSAE.

I don't really think that having 1/2 my students out of the classroom will make this a bad week. The tough part for me will be the lack of access to my office on the 3rd floor. On testing days, the entire 3rd floor is blocked off. So to be extra prepared, I stayed late at school today to get my grades submitted (grades are due by midnight tonight) and made sure I had every textbook, test, review guide and DVD I could possibly need the next few days, not to mention my Italian language book that I've been lugging around in an attempt to brush up on my skills now that my trip is all systems go. My huge teacher bag weighs probably 15 lbs.

(To paint the big picture, I stopped at the grocery store on my way home so when I got to my front door I had what my students refer to as my "diaper bag" plus 3 bags of groceries, a purse and a stuffed, accordion file containing all my handouts and to-be-graded papers.)

Another downside to this week is that my students are really getting a handle on their final projects in Coop yet they can't work on it during testing. Each day more and more of them say "I can really use this someday, huh?" which makes me respond with "Yes!!" Both the computer lab and the library are on the 3rd floor so I'm resorting to a review guide and quiz the next few days covering our last unit, "Living On Your Own." They aren't going to like it. Oh well. Hopefully I can show a little video on Thursday. The quiz is just 32 questions.

I also had a 15 minute hallway meeting with a counselor today. Essentially, my one student who has been to my class just 4 times since January (2 this week alone) needs to pass. She has the potential to get 3 credits from my classes and needs 4 to graduate. So what has the principal said? She needs to pass both of my classes. Personally, if you don't show up to school and your absences are unexcused, you don't deserve to make up the work. It was a personal choice. This student says she wants to be there. Well, BE THERE! If you can't summon the desire and will power to face high school then how do you expect to wake up and go to a job the rest of your life? Anyway, this student and I spoke today and I showed her exactly what she needs to *hopefully* pass my 2 classes. At least she has great ideas for her project and has really been working hard on it the last 2 days. If only she could be this dedicated all school year. She has great potential.

I'm beginning to ramble now so I'm going to bed. It's long past my school-night bedtime anyway. 42 days till summer break. Hopefully the pollen season will have tapered off by then and I can spend some time outdoors. While I visited a few students at work earlier today I found this great bench rocker that would be lovely on my back patio . Dreams...

Buonanotte!
KB