It sure has been a long week! I'm a member of the Testing Committee at my school. I spent all day Monday finishing up getting the testing materials ready for all of the 3rd-5th grade teachers, stayed after school until 5:00 to help teachers finish up, and then stayed up all night creating review activities for my students.
My kiddos started their state test, CRCT, on Tuesday and they are just worn out! They came back from Spring Break, had a day to review, then dived right in to their big test. I've been working with a 3rd grade class for a few months now, to try to get them ready for this week, and I can really tell that my work has paid off! Some of our lowest students, some of our wiggle worms, and some of our behavior issues were all able to make it through each section of the test (150 minutes total a day) with no issues!
I worked one-on-one with a 3rd grader who is Autistic. He had many IEP modifications and this was my first time giving a state test as a certified teacher. I can honestly say that I was scared to death! I wasn't sure what to expect from my little boy; I was so worried that he would act out, like he does in class, and that I wouldn't be able to stop it without having to report a testing irregularity. I guess I should have trusted my AP. She told me, weeks ago, that I would be testing him because she knew that I was the best one for that job. She said she knew that I had the personality to make him get through the test with no problems. She said he trusted me and that that's all that mattered. I guess she was right! He did AMAZING! It really got me thinking that I may want to try to get my Masters in Special Education. Knowing that I can have such an important impact on a child's life truly gets you thinking. This student doesn't allow teachers to touch him, he doesn't get along with any of the other students, he has outburst in class and will not stop, but somehow he sat through 4 days of 150 minutes of testing without a single issues while with me. I'm going to talk to him and see why he acts so differently with me than he does with the other teachers. Maybe it's the tone of my voice, the way I get down to his level, etc. but whatever it is, I hope I can figure it out so that I can let the other teachers know so that we can all have him working this hard all year long!
It was such a long week for all of the teachers also. I think I may have gotten 18 hours of sleep this week. I stayed up every night until after midnight creating Jeopardy games, review PowerPoints worksheets, etc. to try to do some last minute review sessions with the kids. Today was the first day I left school before 4:00 all week. It has been very hard but over all it has been worth it. We have one more day to go; we will finish up with Social Studies when we return to school on Monday. I can't wait to be finished, and I know the kids can't wait!
I will try to get some of my new review activities posted to the blog this weekend but I'm going to have another super busy few days ahead of me. Wedding showers, house hunting, lesson planning, and spending time with my wonderful fiance. If I don't get around to it this weekend I'll have them posted later on in the week!
I hope you all have a wonderful, safe, and fun weekend! Also, good luck to all of you who have started or will be starting your state testings!
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