Spes Magna Games

Today’s writing exercise is inspired by this week’s benchmark testing at the school where I teach and by conversations about the benchmark testing with a couple other teachers. The prompt is “Bubbles, Dark and Neat”. This is about 327 words.

Assessment Drives Instruction

“Please verify your CitIdent number at the top of the testing form.”

I listened to the proctor’s voice but didn’t look up. She sounded pleasant but bored. The testing form rested on the desk in front of me. Two columns. Fifty rows per column. Four small circles per row. I verified my CitIdent number.

“Please verify that the ProgEv test number on the booklet matches the ProgEv test number beneath your CitIdent number.”

It did.

“Are there any identity discrepancies?”

There were not. Not a single error in a room full of more than one hundred people taking their quarterly progress evaluation. I’d been taking these tests four times a year every year for the past twelve years starting with my tenth birthday. There were never any errors. Errors were not tolerated.

“When I say ‘start’, please break the seal on the ProgEv test booklet. Turn to page one. Answer the questions to the best of your ability. Ensure you mark your answers on the testing form. Ensure your circles are properly bubbled in. Make them dark and neat to avoid scoring errors.”

I sighed and waited. I thought about breaking the seal early, or not breaking it all, but instead I just sighed and waited.

“Start.”

I broke the seal, turned to page one, and started to read. The first story was a piece about two children playing at a lake. One of the children pushed the other child into the lake and laughed at him. This other child was physically uninjured but suffered harm to his self-concept. After the reading came the questions. Five multiple choice questions with four choices each.

“Why did John push Michael into the lake?” I read silently to myself. I then read the possible answer choices. All of them seemed like good choices to me, but one of them was more correct that the others. I sighed again. I’d sigh frequently during the test if previous experience was any guide.

Tags: #8MWH