Friday, January 26, 2007
Hurts
Sorry for the light blogging and reply to comments, but this is my busiest time of the year at work. It's Regents week in New York State - meaning we hand out the English Language Arts Regents exam (4 essays/26 multiple choice questions) to approximately 400 students over the course of two days. Each essay is read twice by two different teachers, the multiple choice questions are graded, the grades are computed, and that my friends is how the modern education system grades each and every kid as well as each and every school.
With stakes so high, the weeks leading up to the test are quite frenetic with test preparation, afterschool and weekend tutoring sessions, and desperate pleading and bargains with students to make sure ALL the kids show up for BOTH days of the exam (the ELA Regents exam is the only Regents that is a two day exam) and/or attend the much-needed tutoring sessions. For instance, I will now be singing a Black Sabbath song in front of a class (I believe it will be "War Pigs") as part of a deal I made with a self-described "metalhead" student with a poor attendance record who I knew needed some serious ELA Regents tutoring and would only attend if I pulled some "gimmick" to bribe her to go. She suggested the singing of the Sabbath song and I said "Sure - but you have to attend tutoring." She did and she passed the test - barely. But she passed and so I will happily be singing "old school heavy metal" next week as part of the deal. "...while the war machines keeps turning..."
Anyway, the process is now over, the grading is done. My brain and my body hurt. I haven't been reading the papers or the blogs as much the last few days. But now, regular blogging and commenting should return as soon as I wake up from the post-Regents daze I get every year around this time.
With stakes so high, the weeks leading up to the test are quite frenetic with test preparation, afterschool and weekend tutoring sessions, and desperate pleading and bargains with students to make sure ALL the kids show up for BOTH days of the exam (the ELA Regents exam is the only Regents that is a two day exam) and/or attend the much-needed tutoring sessions. For instance, I will now be singing a Black Sabbath song in front of a class (I believe it will be "War Pigs") as part of a deal I made with a self-described "metalhead" student with a poor attendance record who I knew needed some serious ELA Regents tutoring and would only attend if I pulled some "gimmick" to bribe her to go. She suggested the singing of the Sabbath song and I said "Sure - but you have to attend tutoring." She did and she passed the test - barely. But she passed and so I will happily be singing "old school heavy metal" next week as part of the deal. "...while the war machines keeps turning..."
Anyway, the process is now over, the grading is done. My brain and my body hurt. I haven't been reading the papers or the blogs as much the last few days. But now, regular blogging and commenting should return as soon as I wake up from the post-Regents daze I get every year around this time.
