Times up, please put down your pencils

I had to proctor the Math TAKs on Thursday, followed by a Science benchmark on Friday. As a student, I was indifferent towards testing days. There was always the anxiety and the pressure of knowing that you had a big test coming up, but once I actually started taking the test, all that pressure just went away. I'd finish the test and read a book while I waited for everyone else in the room to finish, and then maybe read some more until time was called and we'd go to the next class.

Things are different with the TAKs. These students have ALL DAY to test if they need it. From 8 AM until 2:15, students were testing solely for math. There's not really an obscene amount of problems either (less than 100). I think Texas really just wants to make sure test anxiety is not an issue for their students and that they can "truly" gauge a student's learning. I appreciate the thought, and I'm sure the kids enjoy the extra time as well. But geez... if they finish early and double check their answers and still have 4 hours to go... that's a LONG day. I feel for the kids, and I know exactly what they're going through, because I had to actively monitor the rooms (walk around and stand, no sitting) for the entire testing period. I thankfully got a half-hour lunch in which the school provided sandwiches and snacks, but I usually get 45 minutes to eat and two planning periods during the day. I'm not complaining about the amount of planning time that I lost, because it's a test and those things happen. I was just dying on test day because I'm not talking, I can't read, draw, or really do anything other than look at the kids and make sure they aren't cheating. I felt like a prison guard. Did I mention I also got to monitor on Friday as well for the Science Benchmark? At least that one was only until 11:30

Migrants
Since the TAKs test is all done and there are only 4 weeks of school left, a lot of my migrant kids are starting to head out for the summer to work. It's really sad because I'm losing a lot of the kids that I've grown attached to and had really seen improvement with over the year. I had a few leave on Friday after the tests were done, and most of those didn't tell me they were leaving until that day. I think that they've gotten used to telling their teachers that they are leaving early and have had too many teachers give them a disappointed look or just get plain emotional on them. I'll be honest - I got a little emotional too. It's just going to get worse as the month goes on. Too bad they're leaving right as we're getting into our Media Unit that I've been looking forward to teaching.