Log in,
Click, click, click,
See how many questions…
Sigh, groan,
Roll your eyes…
Sniffle,
Cough, sneeze,
Blow your nose…
Wiggle,
Yawn, slouch,
Rock back and forth…
Check the time,
Tap your feet,
Tie your shoe…
Suck your thumb,
Scratch an itch,
Look out the window…
Oh, yeah…
Read the questions…
And try to answer them…
.
Ha! That about sums it up. I see my students doing these very things.
It’s amazing how many things we can think of to do besides read words that don’t matter at all to us. Thanks for sharing.
Eek! The ability to focus on these tests is so hard as an adult. I have felt the same way as your students when trying the sample tests. I love how you mentioned read the questions near the end. It is exactly how the kids think!
And just think, the results tell you how good a teacher you are. Makes you wonder.
I love Arjeha’s comment! We start testing next week…maybe…I live in Indiana and the politicians are fighting over the test, so who knows what will happen here. Great post!
I am in IN, too. We were doing one of the diagnostic tests required by our district. It is quite a year here in IN, isn’t it?
I just saw this after I read your slice for today – 2/24. I didn’t realize you lived in IN.
Of the many changes that occurred during my 34 years of teaching, this was the one I just couldn’t come to terms with. So much riding on so little. Those tests, though easy to administer across the board and powerful in producing “data,” tell so little about what our students really know and who they really are. Your description is spot-on and so telling!
Accurate observations. I once had a student who rewrote a poem from a computer screen during a MAP test. He said it sounded beautiful. He was a poet not a test-taker.
I really love that…”he was a poet, not a test taker.” We could add storyteller, dreamer, builder, athlete, etc., etc., etc.!
I’m with the kids, that’s what I’d be doing too. What a bunch of nonsense!