I just got started on this long-term assignment for an English teacher who is out on maternity leave. We did a week starting reading novels (Of Mice and Men for the ninth graders, The Great Gatsby for the eleventh graders.) During the week I got information about upcoming testing.
Testing?
Yeah, so, does anyone remember back in September when I was covering that vacant special ed position and how we had this testing to do? No? Let's just say there were several technical issues that made this a mess, and you can click on these links for the posts where I mentioned them. And I really didn't delve into the full crazy that was that testing.
Turns out it was time to re-administer this test as it's been six months. The idea is to measure how much the students have grown since then.
Deep sigh.
On the bright side, I had gone through that trial by fire, so I understood how to administer the test. And I'd been fully trained.
And...
We had no major issues. The whole thing went fairly smoothly. No major hiccups.
I mean, I had various issues, but they were minor and easily dealt with.
Whew.
One of the things the school did was to give us testing blocks of two hours and fifteen minutes to administer the tests. This ended up being sufficient for almost everyone to finish the test in one sitting. (So we only had to log them in once, and we didn't have to try to remember who still had a test to finish and who was just sitting in class, waiting.)
But, it wasn't sufficient for everyone.
The school day has an "office hour" for students to meet with teachers for whatever reason. I warned the kiddos that non-finishers were going to need to show up for the office hour.
Wednesday. It was the end of the long block, and I had two students who hadn't finished (out of 30, so that's excellent). One boy was more than half way through the test, but he had been working slowly.
I asked him if he'd be around for the office hour. This is when he informed me that he had lost his glasses, one of his contact lenses had dried out overnight, so he had been doing the test that entire time one-eyed. It slowed him down.
Yikes.
The test is untimed, so he needed no reason to need more time. Nor did I demand an explanation. As a glasses/contact lenses wearer, I understood his pain completely.
Ultimately, it did not take him long to finish in that office hour. I assume he found his glasses or hydrated the contact. I didn't ask.
I remember struggles with contacts. It's been well over a decade since I wore them once my cornea got scratched. I'm glad things went so much better than expected.
ReplyDeleteOuch. Sorry about your cornea.
DeleteI wear contacts and some days they are a pain. Good ratio of kids finishing though.
ReplyDeletePoor kid, that had to be difficult!
ReplyDeletePoor kid.
ReplyDeleteI’d be lost without my glasses
I always know where my backup glasses are. He's young, though.
DeleteGood on him for not using it as an excuse and pushing on with the testing.
ReplyDeleteAt least that boy could finish the test and I hope he didn’t get a headache. I’m glad you didn’t have the major issues from before.
ReplyDeleteOh man, I was half in a panic waiting for things to go sideways. Luckily, they did not.
DeleteHaving raised two teens and spending a lot of time with another (Caleb), I so understand the PROBLEMS they say they have. Sometimes they are not thought up problems but a lot of the time they are. I have to give them this though, sometimes they sound so convincing that it has you quesitoning yourself.
ReplyDeleteThings that don't bother us definitely bother them. It's the age.
DeletePoor kid :/
ReplyDeleteBut he managed to get it done, so :)
DeleteKudos to the kid for not letting the one-eye deter him from going to school that day.
ReplyDelete