Chalk Talk - Active Monitoring

Testing began at school last week. 

I'm the type of person who can't sit still. I always have to be doing something.  And even if I'm sitting, I'm multitasking. So these past testing days have been difficult. Make that extreme torture!!! When kids are testing, up to three hours...or more...at one time, teachers have to be "actively monitoring." No. Teachers can't sit and plan lessons, or grade papers, or surf the net. We are required to walk around the classroom, constantly, watching students take their test, and documenting anything and everything out of the ordinary.  We have to make sure students are on the right section of the test, and that they're not looking at anyone else's test.  We have to document if students make too many erasures, and we have to deliver tissues, pencils, calculators, or scratch paper as necessary to students. 

It is tedious and torturous.

So I decided to document my own observations...just to make the time go by. Here's the life of a middle school teacher during one three hour block of testing.

• I have 20 students in my testing group...ten boys and ten girls.
• 17 students crossed their legs during testing.
• Four held their head...one did this the entire time.
• Three students fell asleep. One...seven times!!! Another...four times.
• One constantly moved his legs, picking them up and then letting them hit the ground as if he was making his own music.
• Three girls had ponytails.
• One girl had a bun.
• Fives times I picked up pencils that rolled off the desk.
• Three times I delivered tissues to students.
• One student bit her nails.
• Two students sneezed.
• One student's watch beeped.
• The number of students who could not open their scientific calculator...three.
• Black and grey were the colors of choice on said day. 
• Six students wore grey, and six wore black.
• The number of student who wore pink...one.
• The number of student who wore white...one.
• The number of students who wore navy blue...three.
• One student wore blue.
• One wore purple.
• One wore plaid.
• The number of students who wore glasses....five. All glasses were black rimmed.
• The number of students with hoodies...10.
• Now on to shoes!
• Six students wore black shoes.
• Five wore white tennis shoes.
• One wore burgundy.
• One metallic.
• One navy blue.
• One wore construction boots.
• One wore red.
• Two wore purple.
• Two wore grey.
• Four students wore shorts.
• 16 wore jeans.
• The number of students with mismatched socks...two.
• Most male students wore black socks except two who wore white.
• One student opted for no socks...Ewww! Stinky winky!!!
• Seven. That's the number of times my stomach growled....a loud rumbling sound like a volcano about to erupt. 
• And finally. Infinity and beyond. That's the number of times my joints cracked and popped as I walked through every aisle of student desks watching every student intently as I actively monitored!

We have one more day of testing left. Perhaps I can mentally plan my outfits for the next 18 days...that's how many days are left in this school year!