Terrific Testing

This week I started SBAC testing with my students. Because they are special education students, they take these exams in a separate setting. My room is WAY too small to have all of my students in there testing at one time, so I was given a testing space downstairs. My students settled in from break on Monday and on Tuesday my 7th and 8th graders began their testing. I was nervous all Monday night thinking about the first day.

"What if my students feel discouraged?" 

"What if they do terribly, this content is so hard for them."

"It's not fair that they won't be in their usual classroom with the information on anchor charts in front of them."

The thoughts went on and on. I woke up early the next morning and decided to create some motivation for them. Some are Teachers Pay Teachers inspired and some are my own. 

My students usually think that I'm corny, so I was anticipating them hating my motivational notes. They actually loved them! As I walked around the room during testing I noticed some students had them sitting up against the Chromebook screen, some had their pennies in their hands, and some just continually looked over for reassurance. When testing was over on the first day I had the students clean up and bring me their testing ID cards. One student brought up the note and said "can you hold onto this for tomorrow, I'm going to need it." All of the kids followed and asked the same. This was a very proud teacher moment. I was so happy that my kids made it through the first day of testing and most of them did very well too. Remember, my kids all receive individualized education. When it comes to standardized testing, they get very discouraged and though they do not know much of the content, they are still required to take the test. This week was long and difficult, but we did it as a team. I am so proud of my kiddos..and myself. Here's to another 3 weeks of SBAC testing...