As I started this class at the beginning of the semester, I was not in danger of having grades due. So, of course I would have to do some standardized testing.
All in all, it went pretty well. For first period.
For third period, I had absent students and the slow walkers. There are some students who need more time to do tests, and I get that. That's fine. But some students just kind of stare into space and/or sleep rather than getting the thing done.
Day one I had planned on only testing that day. On day two, I hoped to get the stragglers and the absent students done. And that worked perfectly for period one.
For third period, I had two students absent. Again. (One had been suspended, so that was going to be unavoidable.) And I had one student who took his time, so he did not finish.
Which meant that on Wednesday, period three again had to work on the test.
(This is a very, very long time for seventh graders. The students who were finished had other work to do, but I couldn't change things up a bit until all the tests were complete.)
I had two students who were just starting the test, and I had two students who had started but were only half way done.
The two students who were just starting? Yeah, they were playing the slow walking game. And I was not going to have it.
I started hovering.
As the test proctor, I had access to what question they were on, but I couldn't see anything else. (The test was online.) So, when the boy was on question 12 for a very long time, I went over and gently asked if the software was stuck. It wasn't. He got going again.
When the girl was stuck on question 15, I went over to her. She was staring into space. I urged her to get back on task.
One of the boys who had already started finished. Then the other boy finished. Woo-hoo!
I went and hovered over the other two again.
Then the girl finished.
We had a half hour left of class. Then twenty minutes. Then fifteen...
The boy finished.
And it was all I could do to not throw my arms up in the air and shout "Woo-hoo!".
I celebrated by putting a video on for the kiddos. One we had started before the testing.
And then I closed out the software and deleted all the emails about the testing. Because I was done.
Whew.
What a process. And stuck software (made me wonder what the procedure is if the software crashes or glitches. All I had to worry about, as a student, was keeping the pencil within the little bubbles we had to mark next to the questions.)
ReplyDeleteIt's just a matter of logging them out of the test and then having them restart it. We did that so much the first couple times we proctored the test. It was a mess of glitches, so we pretty much know now how to get the thing working (and the glitches have since evaporated).
DeleteTests are more wearisome for teachers.
ReplyDeleteI love proctoring tests. I know, I'm weird.
DeleteThey could not pay me enough to do your job!
ReplyDeleteIt has its moments.
DeleteOh Thank goodness it's done! That was frustrating.
ReplyDeleteIt was. And, alas, I couldn't finish it for them.
DeleteOnline testing has changed things, hasn’t it? But kids are still the same ..,
ReplyDeleteYup. It makes some things easier, other things harder.
DeleteSchool is so different from when I was in school, so much done online now.
ReplyDeleteI proctored some test once at my daughter's former high school. Thought it might be interesting, and I got paid. My daughter wasn't taking the test. No one told me how to do it, just sent me to the room and gave me a seating chart. A blank one. I wasn't told to seat them apart or how to fill out the chart at all. They all behaved, no one seemed to be cheating (cell phones existed, but not like today, and mostly just for phoning), so I guess it was all okay!
ReplyDeleteThere isn't a lot to it, really. It sounds like you did fine.
DeleteYour post was like a suspense novel, I rushed reading toward the end and held my breath until I read you would have shouted woo-hoo!. Haha. Glad you had them all finished.
ReplyDeleteIt's one of those things that feels like an accomplishment even though I'm not the one doing the thing. I'm just observing. And leading.
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