Today I was a test jockey. I did 6 IQ tests back-to-back with students ranging from 1st to 8th grade. It was draining and terribly busy, although I did take a 5-minute break to inhale my frozen entree while I waited for a kid to return from recess. There's a reason why I've never spent an entire day testing before. I'm fairly certain I'll be dreaming tonight of patterned blocks, stopwatches, scoring templates, and test questions. As a side note: Please stop naming your children with celebrity names. It's silly.
Two experiences stood out today... The first was the 1st grader whose answers had a tendency to include words like "fight," "kill," and "beat." In his 6 years he's reportedly been in several fights with others living in his apartment complex because, "They don't like my skin." Those words shouldn't be a part of his everyday vocabulary and the fact that he's aware of racism at such a young age is heartbreaking.
I was thinking about this when someone walked into the staff bathroom. The one with the door I thought I had locked. So, that was pretty special (sigh). Once the mortified blush left my cheeks, I slithered out with my head down and returned to testing.
Nothing was sweeter than coming home to Emily after a day like today. I had to leave before she got up this morning and I missed her terribly! She was all smiles and bubbly energy (as usual) and seeing her made me instantly happy. I think I'll stick with half-day testing this year. The choice between spending the majority of my day with other people's kids or my own is a no-brainer. Even after an assessment marathon has turned my brain to mush.
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