I proctored the state EOC for Algebra 1 to all of my students yesterday and then I forgot to write my post. A few thoughts:
- Some of my students were really zoned out during the test and I don’t know if it was anxiety or apathy or not understanding the material or just plain old lack of sleep. But I was worried about them.
- I haven’t felt guilty or concerned about how good of a job I was doing until yesterday watching them take the test. Suddenly I felt like how they did was all on me and I was criticizing every choice I have made this year.
- Legally I cannot share information about the test items but after proctoring it yesterday I have a higher opinion of it than I did last week. It was a rigorous test with good questions.
Patrick Honner said on Twitter recently that you can tell a lot about a teacher by what they do in class after the AP test. I didn’t give an AP test but I feel the same principle applies here. I have also seen some others (my apologies I cannot remember who) tweet that if teaching stops after the test then we reinforce that it is the test and not learning that matters.
So I plan to teach these last few crazy days, but right now I have no idea what.
Thanks for reading.
The Barefoot Teacher 