Third grade is a big year. It's the last year students are part of the "lower grades" and it's the first year they are subject to taking the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress or CAASPP. As the long title suggests the test is long and grueling. It very much so reminds me of another terrible and long test, the dreaded: SAT. However, the SAT is designed to assess students twice the age of 3rd graders. Which makes me wonder-why are we making 9 year-olds take a test that would fatigue an 18 year-old? Test taking is hard. It's stressful, frustrating, and just plain awful. When I was a young student testing never affected me. But, when I got to college assessments of any kind became daunting and intimidating. Last year was my first year teaching 3rd grade and in my first year having to administer the CAASPP to my students. As my students took the test I started noticing many familiar symptoms: frustration, fatigue, and heightened anxiety. I knew that there had to be someway for my students to manage their feelings and be able to push past them so that they could perform well on these state tests. Next year I am moving to a new school site. I could see myself suggesting some strategies to the 3rd-5th grade team. I believe this work is important in order to give students language to voice how they're feeling. I want to keep trying different strategies and programs with students that incorporate socio-emotional learning in the classroom. One of my colleagues just received her yoga certification for educators. The breathing strategies and meditation practice could be a very powerful tool in addition to using language to express feelings.
1 Comment
Tess
6/8/2019 04:17:09 pm
I wholeheartedly agree! Why are we testing these kids the way we do? We, and I really mean the DOE, are creating needless stress and anxiety for kids, teachers, schools, and school districts. What are we doing with this data? Are we using it to improve our low-performing schools? Is so, how? when? where? i really like the idea of the NAEP test, the Nations Report Card. It is administered the 4th grade, 8th grade and 12th grade year. Individual schools are not dinged. The data is analyzed, recorded and compared to the results gathered four years later to access the academic state of the nation. Oy vey.
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