Wednesday, May 11, 2011

All Over But The Whinin'

End of Course. Is it just me, or does that sound kind of like the end of days?

I survived the End of Course test today. It's a Missouri thing. My kids all got logged in and signed on and only one deliberately disregarded the instructions of Mr. Principal. Twice. Guess you know more about how to advance from screen to screen and log yourself off than the man who has been giving these tests for six weeks, huh? I should have known that when the suggested 55-60 minute test took you 20 minutes. Kudos. I'm sure that will reflect positively on our district.

All of my class was finished within 50 minutes. Except one. The girl sitting next to him motioned that she thought he was asleep. But then he advanced to the next question, and she declared that she had been mistaken. At least we didn't have to hold a mirror to his mouth to ascertain signs of life. Funny how the one to take so long is the same one who has turned in oh...I don't know...maybe...a rough estimate here...10 assignments all year. And flat out announced at the beginning of fourth quarter that since there was no way he was going to pass, he did not see the need to bring his book or turn in any work. Funny how he put in such a concerted effort on this test. I wonder if it had anything to do with the fact that my plan time was right after that first 50 minutes, and all the other students were sent to their sixth hour classes, leaving me to supervise his efforts. Surely not.

All at once, we were invaded by Mrs. Not-A-Cook and her charges. I whisper-shouted, "We're TESTING!" to which they whisper-shouted back, "We're here to TEST too!"

Once prepared, Mrs. Not-A-Cook read them the first question. This was a modification for specific students. Unfortunately, science is not Mrs. Not-A-Cook's strong point. She mangled several sciency words badly. Mr. Principal rolled his eyes, and asked if I minded to stay and read the other 46 questions to them. Not at all. I'm always glad to help out if asked politely.

After 20 minutes, a teacher who shall remain nameless happened in, and volunteered to read while I took a little break. That was very generous of her, even though at one time she read a question about an octopus having eight testicles at a middle school academic meet. Nary a faux pas today, though. That I am aware of.

Whew! That's a load off my mind. Until the scores are in.

6 comments:

Mommy Needs a Xanax said...

So is this one of The Almighty Tests? High stakes and what not?

My other teacher friends have been talking about giving the MS Curriculum Test and I get a little short of breath just thinking about it.

Hillbilly Mom said...

Yep. This is THE ONE. Three years of science boiled down to 47 multiple choice questions, only 35 of which will count, the random others being pilot questions for future years.

Hillbilly Mom said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Hillbilly Mom said...

It's really, really complicated to recreate comments that Blogger so cavalierly destroyed.

Here's one from Kathy that went a little something like this:

Kathy: Testicles, tentacles, whatever.

Response: I don't think the octopus would feel that way. Or the 8th grade boys who sat through the mangling of that question.

Mommy Needs a Xanax said...

I guess my comment pisaddeared in the Great Blogger Crash of 2011.

Hillbilly Mom said...

MommyNeeds,
I regret to inform you that Scooby, Shaggy, Velma, Freddy, and Daphne combed the blogosphere in the Mystery Machine until they ran out of $3.67/gallon gas, and still could not find your comment.

I regret the inconvenience the Blogpocalypse has caused you. Please accept a coupon for one free comment on a future post. It is in the mail, speeding to your anonymous address at this very moment.