Tuesday, May 11, 2004
WOW! Testing is a nightmare! Who knew?

I am trying to remember the last time my students acted this badly...I think it may have been right before Christmas break. They all obediently sat quietly and took the test. That they did. I gave them an inspirational speech, which they surprisingly listened to raptly. They seemed very ready.

And I think they were. I felt good about the expressions they were making as they were testing. Not too much confusion and terror. Mostly just concentration. Waiting for their scores is crazy-making, but I will find out on Thursday how they did.

After the test, they had about five minutes of calm and then they all exploded in released tension and mayhem. I thought it was an okay idea to allow them to "relax" after the test, so I didn't prepare any work for them or structured activity. Man am I a moron!

I had a student full force slap another across the face while another student was shouting curse words out the door of our trailer to a student in a neighboring class who was lunging toward her. After I went to lock the door against the angry girl with the balled up fists coming at us, I came back into the room to find one student riding on another's back like a pony, the words "Mrs. ----- is a retard" (not me) on the board, and my reward tickets fluttering through the air like a ticker-tape parade. As soon as the students saw my face, there was suddenly an unnatural silence in the room. The only sound was the neighbor student pounding at my door, screaming curses at her enemy in my room.

After the screaming student was escorted away and the tickets picked up, I decided to take them outside...which is usually a reward, but today I just needed more space to contain their craziness.

It is now 3pm and my nerves are frayed. Detention is unusually sedate this afternoon. Maybe all of these students spent their energy on driving their teachers crazy, like mine did.

Tomorrow, after testing, is Worksheet Madness! No down-time for these guys! No way! ¶ 11:55 AM