Matching Tracksuits

We started the day (as in right after roll) with a final fire drill. All the eighth-grade students went to the area by the basketball courts and lined up as always. Almost. The difference was immediately visible: only about a third of the students were there today.

After spending a little time outside, I had kids help me pack up all my books, which I have to do every single year, which is really a pain.

And we also said goodbye to a kid who changed everyone’s life on the eight-grade hall for the better.

The whole grade has taken him under their wing, to use the cliche. Everyone loves H. Everyone gives him high-fives. Everyone cheers for him.

And today, everyone was eager to get him in the circle to dance.

Most of the eighth-grade students went on a field trip today to Dollywood in Tennessee. I was one of the teachers who stayed back to watch the kids who didn’t go. On our team, which usually has 110 students, only 14 were there today. We had a social-emotional learning session (we watched Inside Out), had a nice lunch, and spent some time outside.

One of our students, who just moved to the States this year, came to me with an American football and gestured (he doesn’t know much English yet) that he wants to learn how to throw it.

We worked on it a while — I hadn’t realized how many things go into throwing a football, little motions and rotations that I never even thought of. He struggled a bit, but it was all laughs and high-fives.

It was a good day.

At the start of the year, I have my English I students write 500-word letters of introductions to me. I want to know what makes them tick, and I want to know what concerns they have about English — their strengths, their weaknesses, their goals.

“Five hundred words!?” They are incredulous. “And it’s due tomorrow.”

I read the letters then make notes from them that I share with the other teachers on our team so we can all get to know the kids quickly at the beginning of the year.

At the end of the year, I give them back. Their reactions are always the same. Most of them have forgotten all about the letters; all of them have forgotten what they wrote about. They read their letters, laugh at what they wrote about, laugh at how they wrote, and they read each others’ letters, and the laughter just swells.

“Mr. Scott, we’ve changed so much!” becomes the common refrain.

Tomorrow, this year’s students write their letters to next year’s students — a major grade and an overwhelming assignment when I tell them about it at the beginning of the year. Now, after a year of me hounding them, none of them are terribly worried about the assignment.

But just to give them perspective, just in case they were still casting about for ideas about what they’ll write tomorrow, I gave them their letters back today.

We’re done testing for the year, at least eighth-grade teachers and students are finished with the unmitigated hell that is state testing.

Perhaps what is most annoying to me is how we treat these kids, who have been taking these tests three or four times a year for the last several years, like they’ve never had a test like this in their life. The Test Administrator Manual (TAM — that damn TAM) includes what we’re to say, with the explicit instructions to say things. Rather SAY things:

Every single test, we say the same things. We start with that quote above and then state the most obvious lie:

It is important that you do your best in answering the test questions.

TAM

It is, in point of fact, completely irrelevant whether students do their best or not. It might affect their placement, but by this point in their schooling, they’re in the track they’re in: moving from on-level to honors happens rarely at this stage of the game.

SAY: This is a secure test. During this test, you may not have any electronic or other device with you that can be used for communication, timing, imaging, or accessing the Internet. These devices include, but are not limited to, tablets not approved for this test, smart phones, cell phones, mp-3 players, e-readers, smart watches, or any other electronic imaging or photographic devices.

You may not use any device, including the device you are using for testing, to copy, save, send electronically, or post to the Internet, any test content.

TAM

I read these instructions as fast as I can because everyone’s heard them. Multiple times. I can rattle off “smart phones, cell phones, mp-3 players, e-readers, smart watches, or any other electronic imaging or photographic devices” as fast as I can say anything. It even has a certain rhythm to it.

This is a secure test, we tell them, and we pass out test tickets that allow them to log on. And as if to show how completely irrelevant these tests are (Can any of the people who create the tests remember their scores? I doubt it.), they have this lovely jumbled juxtaposition in the instructions:

So an outline of the test instructions would be this:

1. Do your best on the test.
2. This is a secure test.
3. Click on the link to log in.
4. Do your best on the test.
5. Here’s the ticket for your test.

It’s ridiculously badly written.

From there, we read directions aloud, even telling them when to click “Next.”

It’s difficult to restrain the urge to include snarky comments while reading the instructions, but that would be a testing violation, I’m sure, and there’s no need to risk that for a few giggles from students.

What’s the point of all this for students? There is none.

What’s the point of all this for teachers? There is none.

It’s all about the politicians.

Today was the first day of state standardized testing, and it was, as I expected, a mess. The company that our state pays to do the testing is DRC Insight. I’m not sure why: we’ve never had a smooth testing experience with them. We’ve staggered starts by grade; we’ve staggered by grade and then hall; we’ve staggered by grade, and then hall, and then room — nothing has ever produced a simple experience where all students get logged on immediately and start the test without issue.

How many millions of dollars are we spending for this substandard, time-wasting torture?

For my part, it’s hellish because I’m not allowed to do anything other than watch the students test. We don’t want them cheating, you see. But the truth is, students know this test really has no impact on their lives, and while they usually do their best, they’re not overly worried about it.

And this led me once again to cynicism: as I walked around the room, I crafted a sentence. I took a moment and jotted it down, then continued walking around the room, looking at the tops of students’ heads. I thought of edits and changed the sentence. I repeated the process until I’d eliminated all unnecessary words to express the simple truth of standardized testing:

Standardized testing quantifies students and teachers to provide politicians scapegoats for their failed education policies.

For about four years now, each of my classes during the book fair has picked out a poster that seems uniquely out of character for me, which they then all sign, and I hang it on the wall.

Previous years’ posters include two BTS posters, a Riverdale poster, and several kitty posters.

Today was our day in the book fair, so all classes picked a poster. They’ll be signing it tomorrow, and they should be on the wall by the end of the week.

This year, more kids seemed more interested in picking the poster. Usually, it’s just a handful of students in each class; this year, the whole class at times was inspecting the poster and making suggestions about which one to buy.

It made me feel exceptionally good.

One of my classes is working on clauses — recognizing them, using them, transforming them. Today we had a lower-than-usual attendance because of a Junior Beta Club field trip, so it was a somewhat relaxed day. We finished with a game of Kahoot, an online learning site that gamifies quiz-type reviews. We played a variant called Submarine Squad. According to the site,

You and your crew are stuck in the deep blue! A hungry fish is quickly approaching. Answer questions correctly to boost your submarine and follow instructions to escape.

Kahoot usually encourages a bit of competition; this particular variant encourages teamwork and cooperation. They have to work together to escape, and as the beast approaches, opens its jaws, and slowly begins to crunch down on the ship, the encouragement to each other increases.

When they do manage to escape (they didn’t make it the first round), they all jump out of their chairs and cheer, giving each other high fives and doing silly little happy dances.

It’s one of the reasons I love teaching eighth grade: they’re still kids at heart.

My English 8 students are beginning my favorite unit of the year: The Diary of Anne Frank. We’ll be acting out the play in class (at least some of it), reading actual diary entries and comparing them to the play, looking at how the authors use only dialog to develop the characters for the audience.

One of the things I love about this unit is that a lot of kids who might not otherwise be so eager to participate become a little more engaged, a little more focused.

And it’s just fun…

The view outside my window would make it clear even if my mental state didn’t:

Today was the first day back from spring break, and while I was pleased to see my students, I wasn’t as happy about having a regimented schedule.

Classes went well: everyone started a new unit (The Diary of Anne Frank and To Kill a Mockingbird), and everyone was relatively focused.

A good day, overall.