When I got to school today I was totally caught off guard by the level of anxiety I felt over the test. I realized I'd made a mistake on the day of the practice test about some of the testing logistics (thanks in part to the extremely incoherently written memo we received about it), and before I even knew what was happening the situation had degenerated into panic-tears just before I had to go down and pick up the kids.
But if there's one thing I've learned it's that the show must go on, and if there's one piece of advice that has helped me do that, it's been "Fake it 'til you make it."
So I plastered on a big fake smile, mustered up some rah rah, sis boom bah, woo hoo game day show time spirit, and lied (convincingly, I thought) about my allergies acting up when they asked about my red eyes. (As they inevitably will - they never miss a thing, they are eager, almost, to discover cracks in the facade.)
And so the test came and went, in 45 minutes flat. Nothing more I could do. After tomorrow it's back to regularly scheduled programming. It's like an entire month of the year was just excised, surgically removed from the rest, like a cyst or a suspicious mole. You'd never know test prep even happened.
Let me give you a few words to relieve a little bit of your angst about this, if I can. I don't disagree with you about the State testing at all. It is also true, however, that your students will face many written tests in their lives, even after they are out of school. The strategies you taught them will help with them AND are exercises in logic, which can't hurt! Love you!! AJ
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