Wednesday, September 16, 2020

Testing Woes


Just as soon as I got back to day-to-day subbing, I got a week-long assignment that "could be extended". It's a vacant special ed. co-teaching position. 

On Tuesday I joined the classes already in progress. (Monday was Labor Day.) Technically, my job is to assist the special ed. kiddos in class, making sure they get the extra help they need. In practice, however, the co-teacher is an actual co-teacher, doing teacherly things as needed. 

With the distance learning, I was given access to a classroom where the teacher had retired, and I was given access to the classes' online information. Fifth and sixth periods I was co-teaching an eighth grade math class, and they were prepping for a standardized test. 

Since school was interrupted in the spring, the district is testing all the students to see where they're at academically. This test was meant to figure out what they know and what they don't know. 

Turns out, what none of us seem to know is how to do these things smoothly. 

I "arrived" to fifth period on Thursday to find the general ed. teacher losing her mind. Ms. S is very technically proficient, but she had spent the day just trying to get the kiddos logged into the test. And she wasn't alone. Apparently, someone had not anticipated the volume of traffic on the testing website, and kiddos couldn't get in. 

Because this was at a distance, we couldn't just look over their shoulders to troubleshoot easy fixes. But not all were easy fixes. Some just kept getting booted out of the test. Sigh. 

At least with two of us there, I could answer various questions while Ms. S dug in on the harder technical issues. 

Hopefully the bugs get fixed. The rest of my day (first, second, and third periods) are English classes, and they take the test next week (read: as you're reading this). 

17 comments:

  1. Sounds like a teaching nightmare!

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  2. Drew is doing a long term assignment as the special ed teacher in an inclusion class. He spent the first three days learning how to use the chrome book and troubleshooting technical issues. He’s very frustrated.

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  3. You would think they'd realize how many people would be trying to access that test online.

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  4. Oh man. Of course this just has to happen. Obviously it's impossible for them to have guessed that maybe a lot of people would be using the testing site.

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  5. Our grandson, a high school senior in a special-ed school, has not done well with one-line learning. He's creeped out by seeing all his classmates "staring" at him from the top of the screen. Also, how do you learn chemistry on line? Seems to me you need to be in a lab some of the time. Oh, good luck with this!

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    1. There are pros and cons. Sounds like they're requiring cameras on. We're not, so instead we have a screen full of random pics. Most don't post a pic of themselves for their profiles.

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  6. Wow.. What a pain. I hope things get to running A LOT more smoothly for you.

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    1. They're going to get there eventually. I can see it. Just not quite there yet, unfortunately.

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  7. Ugh, sounds frustrating for everyone. And for kids who already had special needs, this must have only made things even more overwhelming than the thought of a test already had.

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  8. That is good that they are testing the kids. Hard to believe it has been 6 months of no in person learning.

    Betty

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  9. I am sure things will smooth out. My oldest Granddaughter is preschool. and there a little bit online. But Friday my daughter law gets a packed that she and her daughter does.

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  10. Especially if they're on Firefox and can't present their screen via a Google Meet. Not that we had to deal with that exact situation today or anything. . .

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  11. I've been having some trouble commenting on your blog and am going to try again not changing the name I am commenting under. So much changing and it's hard to keep up with all of it. Having a brother in law who is autistic, and hates anything to do with online (he's having to participate in a Zoom conference tomorrow for a triennial assessment, and I wonder how it will go) I wonder how special ed students are doing in general. Alana ramblinwitham.blogspot.com

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    1. It's definitely harder for them. In fact, our county is considering letting them come back to in person school first. We'll see.

      That's weird about commenting on the blog. I think the new Blogger is a bit buggy. Sorry.

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