Brief school rant
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For the next two & 1/2 weeks, students will be taking the national, standardized, CRT tests. (No, I'm not sure what the initials mean.) Usually, this is a time for us ancillary personnel to catch up on paperwork. But the sixth grade needs more people to divide the students into small groups, so the special ed director assigned me. At least it's a small group -- only five students -- and they're my speech students, so we all know each other. But I have better things to do with my time than walk around being all "official". And we do have to walk; no sitting, reading, grading papers, etc is specifically spelled out in the rules.
*feels put-upon, knowing the situation is worthy only of ant-sized violins*
But, aside from the problematic issue of standardized tests... who the HELL wrote the instructions? Which we must read word for word, and not paraphrase. Things like, "fill in the bubble for your intended answer" or "avoid making extra marks", and they fill in the "answer document". Yes, this is the sixth-grade level (12-year-olds), but we have bilingual students, and and students who struggle with comprehension (hence, why they come to me). What's wrong with saying, "fill in the circle for the answer you picked" or "don't make extra marks", and fill in the "answer book"? But even more than that, the use of language in the instructions is very stilted; it doesn't flow naturally. I know they're trying to control all variables, but why must they make us sound like robots. Grrr...
*mechanical miss, off to bed*
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Comment at Dreamwidth by Name, Anonymous, or Open Id -
For the next two & 1/2 weeks, students will be taking the national, standardized, CRT tests. (No, I'm not sure what the initials mean.) Usually, this is a time for us ancillary personnel to catch up on paperwork. But the sixth grade needs more people to divide the students into small groups, so the special ed director assigned me. At least it's a small group -- only five students -- and they're my speech students, so we all know each other. But I have better things to do with my time than walk around being all "official". And we do have to walk; no sitting, reading, grading papers, etc is specifically spelled out in the rules.
*feels put-upon, knowing the situation is worthy only of ant-sized violins*
But, aside from the problematic issue of standardized tests... who the HELL wrote the instructions? Which we must read word for word, and not paraphrase. Things like, "fill in the bubble for your intended answer" or "avoid making extra marks", and they fill in the "answer document". Yes, this is the sixth-grade level (12-year-olds), but we have bilingual students, and and students who struggle with comprehension (hence, why they come to me). What's wrong with saying, "fill in the circle for the answer you picked" or "don't make extra marks", and fill in the "answer book"? But even more than that, the use of language in the instructions is very stilted; it doesn't flow naturally. I know they're trying to control all variables, but why must they make us sound like robots. Grrr...
*mechanical miss, off to bed*
.
Comment at Dreamwidth by Name, Anonymous, or Open Id -