Testing, Testing, C-S-T.

It's that time of the year again. That time when teachers are all in a tizzy trying to reteach all 12 chapters of math, again, when students are frantically cramming everything they've learn this year into their brains...or not, and when administrators are praying the curriculum rosary in hopes that their API and AYP scores will go up just enough. I'm really feeling the effects of the "testing pressure." It doesn't help that Joaquin has decided that sleeping through the night is rubbish.

I can tell you firsthand that state testing is a bunch of bull ka-ka. It's bad enough that these poor students have to sit through two whole weeks of testing, but my English Language Learners have to take it in English AND in their native language. Yeah, double testing them will get you GREAT scores. Watching my students, who don't know a lick of english, take test after test is truly heartbreaking. Como se dice bull ka-ka in Espanol?

I hate to admit that I teach to the test, but with our pacing guides nipping at our butts each day, it's hard to do otherwise.  I hope one day, preferably by the time Joaquinnie Pants goes to school, that the Curriculum Nazis will get rid of testing and focus on implementing useful and meaningful lessons that will make our society...less stupid. Is that PC?  

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I still like being a teacher. I really do.