Test proctor is one of my favorite subbing gigs, so I was happy to get the call to help with state testing at the continuation high school last week. I was assisting another teacher. (She did the heavy lifting. I was the extra set of eyes to make sure the kiddos behaved.)
Wednesday was math day. So, everyone got a piece of scratch paper on which to work out the problems.
Test security is a big deal. There are protocols to be followed. They are very particular about keeping track of testing materials.
Scratch paper is considered testing material. At the end of the testing session, it has to be collected and returned to the site's testing administrator.
Two girls had finished their tests. Logged off and shut down the computer. So, with nothing to do, they started to talk.
No talking allowed during testing!
With no electronic devices allowed (we had collected their cell phones), they resorted to some old school texting. They grabbed the closest sheet of paper and wrote notes back and forth.
I probably should have warned them. But they were finally being quiet. And a little devil inside of me knew I was going to enjoy this next bit.
As expected, once they finished their "conversation" they went to get rid of the evidence. They headed for the trash. Of course, I intercepted them.
Oh, the look on their faces when they realized I was not going to let them just throw out that scratch paper.
I explained that it was testing material. I had to turn it in. It had to be accounted for. (I did not tell them that it would just be shredded without anyone actually looking at it.)
They turned it over. I put it in the testing box with all the other collected scratch paper. And I didn't bother to uncrumple it.
After they left, I did look. Because, really. You would have!
Apparently, neither girl anticipated "getting any" that night.
Really? I can see the guys saying that, but girls? Kids, you're too young. Just wait.
ReplyDeleteI know that's always on my mind when I've just completed a math test!
ReplyDeleteOh, I see...
DeleteMaybe that was a good thing; needed to rest up for further testing :)
ReplyDeletebetty
I should have told them that. Oh wait! They weren't supposed to know I looked.
DeleteUnbelievable!
ReplyDeleteConsidering what I usually hear in class (and how many of them already have kids), it shouldn't be.
DeleteWhat is it? Never put it writing.
ReplyDeleteWow!
ReplyDeleteYesterday I was babysitting a 7th grader, a 5th grader, and a kindergartner. (Sounds like the beginning of a bad joke, right?) I've been watching them off and on for about 5 years; the kids like me, the parents like me, it's all good, right? So the 7th grader who talks A LOT decided to tell me about her classmates. She began the school year at one table, and over the course of the year one kid decided to skateboard in the dark in the rain wearing black and just so happened to get hit by a car (shock, right?), another kid found herself pregnant, and the third kid changed schools. As she's telling me all of this, I'm just sitting there in awe … like do 7th graders really do this? Is there something legitimately wrong with this particular community (who, for the most part, is made up of wealthy families)? I just couldn't believe all that she was telling me! I had no idea all of this could go on in a middle school!
By the way, you're mean for not warning them! ;) Of course, if you had talked too much while the other kids were taking the test, you could have distracted them, so… Maybe the girls have learned their lesson? Don't write on scratch paper what you don't want your teachers/test proctors to read? They should have assumed; haven't they taken tests like this before?
Yes, they have taken tests like this before. They probably should have realized, but these are the kiddos who don't really think ahead.
DeleteAs for your 7th grader, earlier this school year I dealt with an 8th grader who was a trial...and at one point he talked about his daughter. !!! Yes, an 8th grader with a 1-year-old, so yeah, it's possible.
I think it served them right. They should know that the scrap paper will be collected! If you can collect phones for state testing why not for regular classroom activities?? Just wondering!
ReplyDeleteCell phones could be collected daily. Most teachers don't, and as a day to day sub, I'm not going to institute a policy like that generally.
DeleteHa, how sneaky of you! They probably both had heart attacks for a while until they realized they weren't getting in trouble. It makes me wonder if teachers ever tried something like that on me!
ReplyDeleteI would've read it, too, for fodder material. 'Getting any' could refer to a great many things but sex and drugs come to my mind first...
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't want to do that job! But, I'm glad someone wants to.
ReplyDeleteBarbara, blogging at Life & Faith in Caneyhead
I'm horrible test taker. It gives me great anxiety which is no fun.
ReplyDeleteYeah, that makes testing hard. I've always been a great test taker, which is why I like proctoring so much. I'm more interested in what sorts of questions they have to answer rather than thinking anything about the process.
DeleteI always read the notes I confiscate (normally right in front of them if I know it is going to be innocent enough), so entertaining!
ReplyDeleteI was at high school 20 years ago, nice middle class suburb, first girl in my year to get pregnant was in year 7, it isn't like this is new fandangled modern behaviour from teens, SOME kids that age have always entered into adult behaviours, just as many have not. Yes internet porn is now a thing, but how many boys in my year at school were busted with Penthouse Mag (and us girls could buy Cleo mag over the counter because the nude male centrefold "technically" had their bits covered). We teach them to respect themselves, we teach them to only engage in what they consent to, and we pick up the shattered pieces when it all goes wrong. Anecdotally we have less getting pregnant at high school now than we did when I was at high school. Maybe it is a friday afternoon after a very long week and I am tired, but I have seen the Woodstock documentary, I know what my parents got up to, and I don't understand pearlclutching :D
I don't know if that's anecdotally, for I read that the statistics show that teenage pregnancy is down a lot from what it used to be.
DeleteOf course I'd have read the note, and blogged about it just like you did. It's what we do :)
ReplyDeleteYes, it is, isn't it.
DeleteOh my....
ReplyDeleteIf you heard some of what I hear on a daily basis...
DeleteHow old are they?? Why do I feel that this didn't really happen when I was that age. Wow, I am certain that is just the tip of the iceberg to other things you have seen and heard
ReplyDelete16? 17? Juniors, so about that age.
DeleteI'm so glad I survived my youth. ~rolls eyes~ Thank you for tackling this worthy work.
ReplyDeleteWorthy... *snort*
Delete