The spring state testing has started! There is not much to say about it. I am spending my days setting up computers, logging in students, tracking issues and telling everyone it will be ok!
Kids are working hard. They are reading and reading and reading. They are answering questions and wondering if they can really eat the mint I just gave them.
Everything else has come sliding to a full stop. I am done each day by 3 in the afternoon but after standing since 7 am I not much good to any one. I come home and try reading but the words all blend into one large black dot in the middle of the page. I want to garden but we are still dealing with grey skies that send snow flakes down every few minutes so planting just can’t happen yet. (Maybe Thursday – I hear we are suppose to hit 70 degrees.) I kept looking at my knitting but it seems like just to much detail after the day of keeping track of 300 kids testing.
Blogging even seems hard tonight.
Yikes, I have got to get my testing stamina up just like the kids! We have three more weeks to go – finishing reading this week, on to science next week then math and May brings us to our little testers.
Oh the joys of education!
Summer will come and we will all run, swim, garden, read, sleep and spend some time learning about the world around us! Hang in there testers!
Words from JL 
I feel your pain, Joanne. You hang in there!
We start Round 2 next week. After that comes all the EOY assessment madness… Oh, my. You are right, we just have to hang in there and summer WILL come.
It does just seem to keep going and going! We just need to look to summer!
How many days of testing have we done? How many more to go? Maybe I should count down how many days until summer vacation. I am sure the kids are counting.
We have also started the testing frenzy that used to be a day or week to disrupt a school but has morphed into a season of rotations in the computer lab! Ugh. We are all now giving up a good chunk of April and May to test kids. When will this madness stop? Hang in there. You are not alone.
How draining testing week always was. The tension in the room as well as in the school left everyone feeling exhausted.
“…telling everyone it will be ok.” Yes, this has been my job, too! Take care of yourself. We will all be ok. 🙂
OMG Joanne, I am so very sad for you and all your little learners. This is a reminder to me to continue to fight against the pervasive testing that the powers that be keep trying to increase here in British Columbia.
Like you, we are testing and testing and testing. I. HATE. IT.
I am so sorry that this has continued to happen, and wonder how it could possibly help anyone, especially the students? And sorry for you, Joanne. It sounds as if you could use a hot tub every evening! The best thing I can say is that your post, despite fatigue, is beautifully written, straight to the point, and so poignant.
How draining. As I read, I kept thinking – I wonder how the kids feel at the end of the day! Ugh.