March Means Michigan Merit Mania!
Uhoh... it's March as of tomorrow! It's time for that most lovely time of school year: the Michigan Merit Exam!!
Every junior in Michigan gets to go through some 8 hours of testing over three days, taking the ACT (plus Writing), the ACT "WorkKeys" test, and several tests put out by the state of Michigan because obviously we've GOT to have standards beyond what ACT (and colleges, and employers) thinks are important, and the feds say we've got to include all our standards in our proficiency tests.
And even though I've moved across the courtyard into the middle school, I'm still running it for the high school - whee!
If I seem a bit... insane?... over the next two weeks, it's probably got something to do with this. It's not the insane that many of you saw during this time last year, when there were some nasty issues causing psychological damage. This is a job I can handle -- my fourth time! -- but it still involves work-my-ass-off-time-crunch-and-insanely-stupid-directions-what-the-fuck-does-the-state-actually-want-me-to-do? stress.
There are two sadder parts of it this year, though. First, I have to come up with three times the substitute lesson plans as I did when working in the high school, because at the high school, those three days of testing involve a full day and two half days OFF for all the rest of the kids, but the middle school still has classes on all the days. I think I'm going to be hitting the library for some good documentaries on East Asia this week, because I REFUSE to show pure entertainment. No, kiddies, you don't get to watch Mulan and have a free day.
Second, they've blocked the internet connection for private computers. I used to have plenty of free time DURING the actual testing; my job is to plan out the whole show from behind the scenes, not to actually be with the kids during testing. So I'd plug in my laptop in the little meeting room that becomes the center of my universe for three days, fiddle around online, maybe look up some things for lesson planning, take a break and check email. Can't do that anymore. Shucks. *Whiiiiiiine*. ;)
Every junior in Michigan gets to go through some 8 hours of testing over three days, taking the ACT (plus Writing), the ACT "WorkKeys" test, and several tests put out by the state of Michigan because obviously we've GOT to have standards beyond what ACT (and colleges, and employers) thinks are important, and the feds say we've got to include all our standards in our proficiency tests.
And even though I've moved across the courtyard into the middle school, I'm still running it for the high school - whee!
If I seem a bit... insane?... over the next two weeks, it's probably got something to do with this. It's not the insane that many of you saw during this time last year, when there were some nasty issues causing psychological damage. This is a job I can handle -- my fourth time! -- but it still involves work-my-ass-off-time-crunch-and-insanely-stupid-directions-what-the-fuck-does-the-state-actually-want-me-to-do? stress.
There are two sadder parts of it this year, though. First, I have to come up with three times the substitute lesson plans as I did when working in the high school, because at the high school, those three days of testing involve a full day and two half days OFF for all the rest of the kids, but the middle school still has classes on all the days. I think I'm going to be hitting the library for some good documentaries on East Asia this week, because I REFUSE to show pure entertainment. No, kiddies, you don't get to watch Mulan and have a free day.
Second, they've blocked the internet connection for private computers. I used to have plenty of free time DURING the actual testing; my job is to plan out the whole show from behind the scenes, not to actually be with the kids during testing. So I'd plug in my laptop in the little meeting room that becomes the center of my universe for three days, fiddle around online, maybe look up some things for lesson planning, take a break and check email. Can't do that anymore. Shucks. *Whiiiiiiine*. ;)