MAP testing

This week at Shaw middle school I had a chance to see the students do MAP reading tests. My coordinating teacher was having a bad morning because he had heard an hour before class that he would be doing MAP testing all day, pushing back his lesson that he had planned. He gave me the assignment to watch the students test and help them with their questions, while he continued to prep for the lesson he will give Wednesday. I was also running between the computer lab and the English classroom picking up assignments and I even wrote excuse slips for those who finished the test late. It was an overall interesting day, but a fun day too. For lunch I usually eat in the faculty room and listen to teachers conversations. Today I felt more comfortable and joined the conversation. I may even borrow a wet suit from a fellow teacher for the sprint triathlon I am doing! Anyways, today was full of mini highlights.

When I was in school, we had STAR testing instead of MAP. Whatever the test was, even though it was boring, I would try my hardest. I caught quite a few students who were not trying their hardest and it really made me feel disappointed. They didn’t care because it had no affect on their grade and they would rather rush through the test and talk with friends. I stopped a boy today who asked how many questions their were and after hearing that he was less than half way, started clicking and pushing the next button. I stopped him as fast as I could, but he had already sped through 5 questions. Another student was on question 28 only 5 minutes into the class period! She said she didn’t care and the test meant nothing to her. I don’t know what to say to make them care. What good are these tests if students don’t take the time to give it their all.

Going along with the students who didn’t try on the test, my coordinating teacher quickly came up with a solution. He called the parents of the students and set up a date for them to come after school and talk with both the teacher and student and give permission to take it again. For the last few periods of the day, my teacher told the students to do quality work, otherwise they would be taking it again after school with their parents. It really helped the students to try. This is a approach I will adopt.

When I was coming back from running an errand I heard a student yelling, “Get out of my way!” repeatedly. I looked up to find a student I did not recognize trying to get passed my teacher in the hallway. I was appalled that a student would talk in such a way to a teacher. She was yelling very loud and I could see that it caught the attention of other classrooms with their doors open. I am not sure what exactly happened to the student but my coordinating teacher walked back into the computer lab and apologized for the ruckus. I really hope nothing like that happens to me!