This week has been full of testing. It has been a long week for both the students and the children. I can say that there are two vital lessons that I've particularly learned over the past week:
Lesson number one is that you have to cover your own tracks. Over the course of the week we realized that there was an important part of the benchmark test that had not been covered. There are many situations that could have created this situation but the most prevalent was the change in the pacing guide from last year to this year. We as teachers get into a habbit of making things as easy for us as possible. This is not a bad idea seeing that we have many things to do and cover over the course of 180 days. Collaborative planning is a great idea and no fingers should ever be pointed for someone not planning the correct material. This can easily be avoided if we as individuals always cover our tracks and cater to the needs of our students in particular.
Lesson number two is that attempting to start a unit during benchmark testing is tough. I thought I would be able to start my unit plan on informational writing right in the thick of benchmark testing. I have to say that this has not been my best idea so far this semester. I really feel as though I will get through the unit and the children will learn exactly what is intended. I'm also excited that they are still excited about having so much input on the unit. Day number three of the unit is starting and we are done with testing so now it's time to get cooking. The most important part of that last sentence is that benchmark testing is over!
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