Remember that part in the movie Arachnophobia when the character played by Jeff Daniels mentions that there's no noise from the crickets? All of a sudden it's so quiet outside that the main character takes notice, oblivious to the fact that some creepy crawly creatures have snacked on all the insects in the land.
One day this past week I walked the halls of my school and noticed that same eerie sound. It rang out more loudly than the usual halls full of bustling children...the "he saids/she saids" of middle school class change, the laughter and joking, the "stop running, keep-to-the-right" characteristics of a school hallway.
Our huge eight-legged critter?
Testing.
I heard once that a first grader returned home from school one day during my state's End of Grade Tests (which we call EOG's) and announced, "The school was really quiet today. We had E-I-E-I-O's."
I heard once that a first grader returned home from school one day during my state's End of Grade Tests (which we call EOG's) and announced, "The school was really quiet today. We had E-I-E-I-O's."
More like just O's....line after line of O's as in, "Fill in your circle completely. Be sure your mark is heavy and dark. If you erase your circle, do not try to redraw it."
Today I completed my fourteenth day of standardized testing. Next week there are makeups and retests and on and on - an army of arachnids taking over the schoolhouse and silencing the happy noises of the children.
Where's Jeff Daniels when you need him?
1 comment:
Such a great comparison! This would be a great example in a language arts class! I like the way you compared EOGs to arachnids! I'm sure there are students who would agree with you. It seems that EOGs consume teachers and students alike, just like the way arachnids consume all the other "bugs". I find it a shame that we have to teach to test instead of teaching the basics of language arts such as proper spelling and grammar usage. Maybe someday someone will wake up and see which is more important...
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