This week is TCAP week at my school (Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program).  That’s our annual high-stakes, standardized test, and it takes four days of testing the children all morning to complete the test.  Here are thirteen ways that this week is different than other weeks of school.
(1) No reading groups for me to teach this week. No individuals - no classroom lessons.Â
(2) Recess duty! This is the only week all year that I have recess duty. All the non-classroom teachers take over extended recess times in order to give the classroom teachers a break. I enjoy it - as long as it doesn’t rain.
(3) The halls are very quiet all morning. Very quiet. Unnaturally quiet.
(4) I can catch up on my reading in between monitoring runs of the group I’m testing.
(5) The children are unnaturally quiet. I know I mentioned it before, but it’s worth mentioning again. The kids CAN be quiet!
(6) Apparently I am the tester of all children who misbehave in third grade. Since Monday my “small” group has grown from 9 on Monday to 10 Tuesday to 11 children on Wednesday. I wonder how many I’ll have on Thursday. The new ones are children who misbehaved in their regular classroom. So now they must join my group.Â
(7) I’m not sure how I feel about being the teacher that the “bad kids” are sent to for TCAP. That’s not at all the image I have of myself as a teacher.
(8) After recess duty each day, my rest of my day is completely open to finish whatever work I need to do in my classroom - and there is a lot to do. I like “being my own boss.”
(9) Teachers are looking stressed. They monitor during the test and absolutely DIE when they see kids answering items incorrectly - items they KNOW they’ve gone over repeatedly in class. Since I’m not a classroom teacher, I don’t have those same worries - and I’m thankful for that.
(10) The principal gives peppy messages first things every morning. “Take your time and think through your answers. You’re going to do SO well!” If you SAY it often enough, they will do it. We hope.
(11) The following dire announcement is made each day to the children: “Be sure to use the restroom before you go outside for recess because you will not be allowed to come back into the building until recess is over.” Knowing how I feel about not allowing children to go to the restroom when they need to, you can imagine what I think about that! Sometimes teachers just have to keep their mouth shut when they disagree with something.
(12) Teachers are praying extra hard for NO rain because rain means INDOOR RECESS - words that strike fear in the heart of any teacher - something that is probably an appropriate punishment for someone who has committed a great sin. A hundred and thirty second and third graders in one gym. Lord help us - no rain please!
(13) Relief! When Thursday noon rolls around and the last test is finished, there is an almost audible sigh of relief all around the building - by students, teachers and administrators. It’s done. No more cramming. No more quizzing on all the little nitpicky things that might be on the test. The rest of the school year will be noticeably less stressful.
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April 18th, 2007 at 5:39 pm
I have a feeling we agree about the bathroom thing! But, you are right, it is probably best just to keep that opinion to yourself.
I am sure the students AND the teachers will be very happy when this week is over.
April 18th, 2007 at 6:07 pm
Was it quiet in the halls this week?
April 18th, 2007 at 8:51 pm
I agree with Jane - it sounds to me like everyone will be happy when the week is over!!
April 19th, 2007 at 2:57 am
Sorry to hear you have the “bad” kids. No recess when it’s raining? That’s crazy. My mom and dad always had recess outdoors when it was raining, or snowing, or really in any sort of weather that wasn’t dangerous (ie. severe thunder and lightning or heavy freezing rain.)
April 19th, 2007 at 7:24 pm
May I ask you something? What exactly is a meme? And I don’t get this Thursday Thirteen thing at all. I keep seeing it and I even read about the history of it just now and what it is and still don’t understand.
I mean I don’t have a blog. I don’t want a blog. But I usually read my friend’s blogs when I have the time, just to see what they are up to since we don’t live in the same city anymore.
I thought that the whole point of having links at the side of a blog was so someone could click it and you could read your friend’s mutual friend’s blog. So why do a list of things to connect to others? Isn’t that the same thing?
My one friend said it might be because most people don’t know what to write, but they have a blog and feel like they need to fill it with something and then Thursdays they don’t, it’s like one less day to worry about or something.
I mean why even write anything then. Why not write in a blog when you have something worth value to say?
Or maybe I just don’t get the point of public blogs?
Okay so I guess that’s it. I just want to know the point? ‘Cause I’d rather hear about what my friends are up to in their lives, than read a list of their favorite movies or something. I mean, I know their favorite movies. We saw them together when I lived back in the city, ya know? I know their favorite deserts. Favorite TV shows. What they hate. Who they hate.
It just seems strange to me. If you have to list things, then maybe there really is nothing left to say. So why even have a blog if you can’t think of something more clever than a list?
And I don’t mean “you” you, I mean in general, ya know?
But I see this thing spreading, kinda like when blogs first began popping up, so maybe it’s like that? Everyone thinks they have something worth hearing, whether they can write or not, whether they are intelligent or not, whether they have any talent or redeeming quality or not. Whether anyone truly gives a crap and has to know their favorite hair color shades or whatever.
Whether they have something profound to say…or not.
Apparently, even me.
TMS: Jan, thanks for commenting.
It is fun to write, and it is fun to have people read what I write. There is also a little competition involved - to get more people to read my blog. I have some family members (my husband and two children) who feel exactly as you do. However, I also have lots of family members who blog. I personally do it because I’ve always loved to write. It is good to get my thoughts down, and it helps to sort things through by writing. It’s a bonus to have other people read what I write.
The fun of doing a meme is that we get to know other people who are blogging. We share links and generate traffic for each other. Most of all, we get to know people we’d never have met otherwise.
April 25th, 2007 at 9:24 am
You cannot deny the restroom to a child.
Whomever is making such pronouncements should brush up on the law — before a child has an “accident” and the parents show up complaining & with good justification. As a teacher, you know that children, esp. the younger ones, do not have the physical maturity to judge accurately every time whether they will need the restroom within the next little while.
When I read things like that, it really annoys me and makes me glad my kids have never had teachers who do stupid things that make me have to storm the principal’s office. Yet. (Said with fingers crossed.)
June 17th, 2008 at 3:15 am