Your Students are More Than a Test!
At the end of the day, these students are students. You have taught them everything they need to know. Your year did not lead up to this test. It lead up to memories and laughter and learning. Remind them and yourself of that.
De-influencing State Testing
I’ve been waiting to talk about this until the time is right, and with testing near, I feel like it is perfect timing. I’m sure every teacher has a lot that they would want to say about standardized test. I taught 5th Grade in Louisiana and now third grade in Texas, both times students had to take a standardized test at the end of the year. Even when I taught second the students still had an end-of-the-year test given by the district.
In my opinion, and probably every teachers opinion, standardized test are dumb. Dumb is the nicest thing I can think of right now.
Differentiated Instruction?
Basically, throughout the entire year teachers differentiate instruction for almost every single student in their classroom. Because OBVIOUSLY no one learns the same. We write goals as teachers on doing how we’re going to complete that for our students and we get data from the students to monitor that goal. This is all mandated by the state..
WHY THOUGH
SO why does the state give every student, even students with accommodations, the same test and expect them to all perform the same on it? It’s some of the wildest expectations for students that I’ve ever seen. I MEAN ALL YEAR THEY HAVE RECIEVED DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION AMD ASSESSMENTS.
Private VS Public
When I was in school, yes, we took standardized test, but when I went into private school for upper elementary and high school, they just use them as data points, the students and parents never saw the scores.
Literally no teacher enjoys state testing.
Okay rant over, because I feel like every single teacher feels the same way no teacher enjoys giving students standardized test on any level of education.
What you can do as a teacher to prepare your students right before testing
As teachers, what we can do is teach our students that they are more than a test.
My students take the reading and writing state test this week, and for the past 3 to 4 weeks, My Co- Teacher and I have not mentioned the state test, explicitly. We have been teaching them review skills during WIN time and during instructional time and enforcing all of the skills that they will need to take it, but not once have we explicitly told them that they needed to do well on the state test.
We ESPECIALLY did not tell them that they had to pass the star test to pass our grade level.
At the end of this blog post I have attached a document that I saw on social media that talked about a well-known writer that did not receive full credit on her writing portion of her standardized test. I showed this to my students and explained to them that, regardless of what these test show you, not even just in third grade, but into upper level elementary and high school that they are so much more and can do so much more than what the scores report. The scores that I have and the data that I have when I differentiate instruction for each student, shows me what the students know and have learned. This blanket test doesn’t tell me any of that. It tells me which students can sit for 6 to 8 hours and recall information for that long. When will the state see that we all differentiate instruction yet they go against everything that they told us to do with the end of the year.
Teacher Worries
Am I worried about my students passing the store? No. Am I worried that my students will become so anxious that some of them might throw up or cry or give up doing the test? Yes. Eight year old's should not be put under that kind of stress. We teach them that school is fun and learning is exciting and the end of the year is such a sweet time, and then they are hit with a state test. It makes absolute no sense to me.
Recent Experience
I set in a test to get certified from Louisiana to Texas a few days ago and all I could think about when I got out was this is what my students are going to be put through.. It was exhausting, I knew what I was taking, I knew the material, but the length of it and the verbiage was mentally exhausting. I came home and passed out for almost 2 to 3 hours due to exhaustion.
What I taught today
So, during this time, teach students that they are so much more. Give them fun games to play, let them write letters to themselves on the day before the test or write a letter to a friend to encourage them. Teach them that this is just another day in school, and it doesn’t Really matter what they do as long as they do their best. I always tell my students I expect nothing but your best, and on a standardized test that is not differentiated their best might be getting a few answers right. And that is OK. I know some teachers are probably freaking out that I’m teaching my students to do their best and not telling them they have to pass the test. But some students do not have that capability and that is OK! And it’s not that these students aren’t smart enough to pass this test, it’s because they have to sit there for 6 hours in front of a screen and recall months of information and stay focused that long!
Realistically speaking..
You can’t expect students who have been tier 3 all year to read a third grade level passage and answer appropriate questions. But you can teach them different skills and strategies throughout the year to give them a fighting chance.
So this is what my students and I did the day before we took the state test. I decided to write each student a personalized letter to open on the day of the state test. They also got the opportunity to pick a student in class and write them a letter . I need to let her. I tried to choose something unique about that student and add an inspirational phrase, because that’s what my students need to hear. They need to hear that they can do this, because I genuinely think every student in my class can. Just because you think like that does not mean that those students think like that. They have to hear those words over and over and over again to gain that confidence. Now do I think that all of my students are going to read these words and miraculously pass the state test? The odds are slim. But if they believe the words that I’ve written about them, as much as I do, then they have a fighting chance. Because a lot of these students are just anxious and stressed. So we wrote letters to each other, we read, smart cookie, and we threw our anxiety and worries in the trashcan. No literally we wrote all of our testing worries on a piece of paper and I let them rip it into pieces and throw it in the trashcan. As it was one of the most fun things I’ve probably ever done in my classroom.
Below, I have attached some examples of the letters that I wrote to my students, as well as a link for smart cookie! If you haven’t read that book, and you are teaching elementary it’s a must!
Examples of student motivational letters!
Smart Cookie Link!!
At the end of the day....
At the end of the day, these students are students. You have taught them everything they need to know. Your year did not lead up to this wonderful.... test.
They are children. It’s not appropriate to put them through the stress and anxiety that I see my students going through. They are more than that test, and they will do amazing things in this world, regardless of how They perform. So hug your students before the test and hug your students after because all they need is a little courage from you to believe in themselves!
xoxo,
Spilling the tea
Famous Author and her performance on the state test
Extras!!!!
I always like to give my students some motivational treats and I have dropped examples of what I am giving them tomorrow! These are free and all over TPT!
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