Testing may suck, but on the other hand, WE DID IT!

My job at City Elementary is over, as today is the final day of state assessments. Since I've been prepping kids for their second and third tries at the math test and proctoring testing sessions, my work there is done. Despite mixed feelings about the whole testing ethos, I have to say that I came out of it better informed about the realities of what's expected of kids and better prepared to teach to the test  help kids succeed in the future.  It's not that what's on the test isn't important knowledge and skills. It's just that the standard multiple choice format only measures so much; I had a lot of students who I know can do more than what their scores show. Don't even get me started on the whole punitive high stakes philosophy imposed on us by the former administration and sadly not yet reversed by an otherwise decent new one.

My little Jump for Joy picture atop this post, then, should be taken with a grain of salt. The joy, caveated though it may be, is on account of WE MET OUR AYP GOALS!!! Just enough SPED and ELL students passed the accursed test for My Favorite School to get out of jail. For now. And not for Free. The principal and teachers there worked hard all year, and I was fortunate enough to be able to join them for the spring for my little intervention sessions. (So there you have it: without AYP and state assessments I wouldn't have had that job.) The thing is, those educators ALWAYS work really hard. I know. My daughters have been attending that school since 2003. They just had to put a certain type of attention on a certain type of performance this year. But because they're all such dedicated public servants (seriously), and because they gave me such useful materials to use in interventions, meeting this goal was doable. Irritating, but doable.

In other news, I have a second, very tentative job offer for next year. It will probably be an upper elementary grade (a teacher is moving away), but it could end up being any grade level if someone with seniority wants to do the classroom shuffle. The principal at Favorite Elementary asked me what my preferred grade level was. Naturally I responded "K through 8". I mean, it's a recession for cryin' out loud. Upper elementary is probably my preferred level right now, but if I've learned anything on that subject this year it's that there's something to love about every grade. And of course unique challenges to every grade as well, but so what. My own classroom is my own classroom. I'll love it no matter how big or small the kids are. That job and the other (also a little tentative) one are in Wait Mode. Won't know anything firm until mid to late June. More hurry up and wait. I'm pretty good at that by now. Not that I like it or anything. At least I'll have a month of work teaching summer school.

In the meantime, it's off to work. Interventions still need to happen, even though the clientele is a little squirmy with the whole end of school year thing. The oldest kids are in full-on hormone mode (girls in inappropriate warm weather clothes, boys having a heck of a time dealing with said outfits, noone wanting to stay on task, and at least one older middle schooler having announced that he's dropping out anyway so why do any more work.) The younger ones just want to get out and ride their horses (Charter School is a very small rural one, so a lot of the students have horses; most have serious outdoor access anyway, so lots of tree climbing and lizard catching is needing to be done right about now). I may resort to bribery to get it done.