It's ISTEP week (one of two for the year) and my class has been taking the state mandated tests each morning. Since my students are gifted and talented, I don't have the usual worries teachers have such as, "Are they ready?" or "Will they do well?"
No, my worries are, "Will they focus?" "Will they read the question as intended, or will they respond to it in a manner the test writers never dreamed of because the kiddos can have such unusual perspectives?" "Will they rush and make careless mistakes?" And so on.
I have noticed that often you find intellects that are sky-high are coupled with an inability to focus or remember. (Think the absent-minded professor stereotype.) And this year I have a boatload of little absent-minded professors. Fun to teach, but they are disorganized, rush their work so they can get on with what they are interested in, etc.
After a week's worth of testing, here are three instances of this l'il absent-minded professor syndrome:
1) I have to read aloud the test instructions verbatim. On one test, the instructions say, "You may print or use cursive." The children questioned me on that because I always make them use cursive, so we spent a little time as a class discussing and clarifying that, YES, YOU MAY PRINT ON THE ISTEP.
Midway through the test, Nick raised his hand and asked me, "Can I print on the test?"
::sigh::
Now I am positive he was tuned out during the instructions. What else did he not hear?
2) Jacob is brilliant, but he detests work. For two years I have been trying to get him to slow down, do quality work, and check his work when completed. Oh, and to remember to put his name on the paper. (This boy is a 5th grader - that skill should have been in place long ago.)
Jacob was ill today, so while the other children were testing, I flipped through Jacob's booklet to see how he had done. I turn to the BIG writing section. A whole page is allotted for planning, and then 5 pages for writing.
His plan for his essay? "Write what comes to mind."
That's it! That's all he wrote to plan for his essay! Grrrrr...
So I turned to his written portion. Five pages to write on, and he writes a paragraph. Oh. My. He's not going to do well.
Finally, I turn to the short answer section. I find a spot where they are to read a passage, circle a word that describes best what the passage is talking about, and then use that word in a short answer explaining why they chose that particular word.
More reason to sigh.... Jacob wrote two sentences in his response, and used the word. But then he changed his mind, erased the word, and circled the other. Unfortunately, he forgot to write the new word in the spot where he had erased. Sweetie, if you had CHECKED YOUR WORK like the directions say (and like I tell you on every class assignment) you would have caught that major goof. Now his response has neither word and so the answer is wrong.
3) Finally, there is Zach. Zach is quietly brilliant. He rarely speaks and has to be drawn into class discussions. He prefers to remain inside his own mind and often has no clue what we are talking about, so I have to work to ensure he is listening and knows what to do when we get to work. I have also learned, though, that when Zach says something without being prompted, it is well worth listening to.
So when he approached me this afternoon, I turned immediately and gave him my full attention. "I've been thinking," he began, not an unusual way for Zach to begin a conversation. "I was thinking during the ISTEP..."
And my heart sank. Thinking during the ISTEP? Well, if he's thinking ABOUT the ISTEP during the ISTEP, that's okay. But knowing Zach, I was sure he wasn't thinking about the Social Studies test he took today. And I was right.
"I was thinking about fractions." (See??) " I realized that when you have two equivalent fractions and you switch the diagonal digits, you still have equivalent fractions."
I admit I was intrigued at this point despite my dismay that he was thinking about fractions during the Social Studies ISTEP.
"Give me two equivalent fractions and I will show you," he continued.
Wow, he was RIGHT. I have never seen anything like what Zach came up with. Here's an example:
2 and
4
4 8
Switch the diagonal digits so you have:
8 and
4
4 2
Both fractions reduce to 2 and thus are still equivalent. We played with some other equivalent fractions, and it worked every time.
Despite my dismay at Zach's inattention during today's test, I admit I was pretty impressed and proud of him for discovering this on his own. And, I think tomorrow we will play with this as a class and see if the kiddos can come up with why it works.
So... week one of the ISTEP is completed, and I have until the end of April to get my l'il professors focused and ready for round two!
