Teach ‘Em How to Fish

CST testing emotions

So, it has finally come. My students are taking the California Standards Test (CST’s) today. Lots of emotions on this day, on the part of many stakeholders.

Fear and anxiety – on the part of students. “Will I do well? Have I learned enough? Will I please my teacher/school/parents? Can I prove that I’m smart, or will this show just how dumb I’m afraid that I am?”

Fear and anxiety – on the part of teachers and administration at every school in California that has “Program Improvement” sanctions breathing down their neck. “Did I teach my students well enough? Will we retain local control? Will our school get drastically re-organized by the state?”

Anger and frustration – on the part of, well, almost everyone (except the legislators who wrote the NCLB law that creates the pressure). “Why does this dad-gum test have to dictate so terribly much that goes on? Why so much pressure on one test? This is not good for kids! We’re teaching them that this test is the most important thing, not actual learning that goes on for a lifetime! Will they remember what this test measures when it actually applies to their life? Will they remember things we’ve taught them that aren’t on this test? Why is our worth as a school defined by this test so heavily? This is oppressive… Where’s the inspiration? Excitement for learning for learning’s sake? Thirst for knowledge?”

Fatigue – on the part of many teachers. “Wow! We’ve been working our tails off all year for this! We’re wiped out!!!

Relentlessly hard work designing great lessons that target specific standards (especially key standards),
progress monitoring assessments,
data-driven intervention,
practicing test-taking strategies and the ELA and Math content with the CST Released Questions,
sermon-ettes trying to fill the kids’ heads with hope and comfort,
reading Hooray for Diffendoofer Day!,
etc.

Most of the emotion today is probably negative, I would guess. Otherwise we wouldn’t call it “high stakes.” Kind of a confusing little season of the year. I suppose a lot of adrenalin will drop, on the part of many teachers and students. However, I’m sure there is some positive emotion going on today regarding these tests, as well.

Excitement and confidence – on the part of some students. Especially when students open their booklets and see that they really know lots of the answers they were perhaps afraid of before the test began.

Relief – on the part of some teachers. “Whew! I’m glad that’s over. Now we have some time to relax a little bit. Now we can be a bit more flexible about things. I just hope the students are still able to focus on learning and doing their best…”

Relief – on the part of students. “Finally! This famous test is finally here! Whether I do good or bad [well or poorly], let’s get it over with! I’m sick of my teacher talking about it all the time… ”

I guess I feel some of all the emotions above. But as I look around my classroom, I am heartened. I see my classroom library of 2000 books, and remember all that we have done in this room to strengthen their love of reading and love of good literature. I look at students who are finished with their tests, and have a look of excitement and contentment as they read their books, wondering what’s going to happen next. I think about the multimedia projects that we are going to be working on later this afternoon, and I know that they are going to learn things through that project that aren’t testable by any standardized test. I think about the lessons on writing coming up this week, and all the writing instruction I’ve done this year. Even though writing is much, much harder to assess, it is so incredibly important to their success in life. I am heartened to imagine all the writing and blogging my students will still be doing this year.

I have done my best to teach all the curriculum standards in this grade level. I established a classroom climate where my students and I respect each other (not 100% success there, but I’m proud to reflect on the significant relational success that we have achieved here). I know that many, many, many of my students have grown in very significant ways this year. I know I grew a lot, and that my students grew a lot…

See, there I go – I’m writing as if this is the end of the year. Like all the learning is over! This bugs me because we have several weeks of school to go, and the emphasis on this test is so significant, it feels like school’s practically over, even when it’s not over…just because the measure by which we are judged is over…
I shared a draft of this blog with my students right after the first portion of their test was over. It was an incredibly positive, enlightening conversation. I asked my students to critique my writing, using the 6 Traits of Writing, or any feedback they had at all. Here are some of the comments: (I’ll try to paraphrase as accurately as possible)

“You had good Voice. That sounded just like you when you said, ‘ Why does this dad-gum test have to dictate so terribly much that goes on?’”
“Mr. Warkentin, you hit the nail on the head!”
“You’re right…about being nervous, and then about feeling relieved.”
“You put it really well when you said…”

We discussed Ideas, Voice, Organization, and all the rest of the Traits. It was a rich, encouraging conversation. I think they felt validated for their emotions and encouraged that their teacher, “gets it.”
—————–
During this conversation, I realized that I had forgotten at least two emotions:
Boredom – on the part of students (and teachers, I suppose). This isn’t exactly the most exciting day of the year. One of the most important, for several reasons (that none of us like), but not the most exciting. The student that shared this thought said that she was bored, but from a perspective of being confident. Like the test was easy for her. I, of course, was excited about this, but honored the validity of this emotion about the test.

STRESS! was another emotion that I didn’t acknowledge about the test site coordinator. There are numerous ways to mess up on administering the test other than just plain getting answers wrong. When these happen, massive headaches threaten to completely ruin the day/week…

Tags: assessment, CST