Testing AIG Students

I'm pretty sure I've said it already on this blog, but this group of students has been by far the smartest group of students I've ever taught.

Each year I've had an AIG group, but this group surpassed all previous expectations of an AIG class.

I saw that even more when testing came around. I've never seen students truly stress out over end of year testing.

Well, I did this year...

The first day of testing, I got my group started and thought everything was going smoothly. About an hour in one of my students raises their hand and asks to step out in the hall. Usually we have to put a note in the hall and wait for a hall monitor to come take someone out to ensure students don't meet up in the hall to discuss the test (yes, I know, it's ridiculous!). However, I could tell this one was about to lose it so I walked out in the hall with them. I barely got them out the door before they lost it...like sobbing uncontrollably lost it.

I turned them over to the hall monitor and went back in. They came back in about 10 minutes later and made it through the rest of the test, but just barely. Talking with them afterwards, they were distraught over the fact they couldn't focus and couldn't understand the passages. They sulked and cried the rest of the day. Thankfully they pulled themselves together the next day for the math test, but had another mini meltdown over the science test later in the week.

Then, when I got their scores back, I was SO excited about how well they did! We had a semi-regular schedule in the morning and then were scheduled to take the science test in the afternoon. I got their scores back shortly before lunch and since they were so good, I decided to tell them before their science test. Bad idea. I didn't realize you could get so upset over a level 4 or 5.

My student that freaked out during the reading test, was upset again because their percentile wasn't as high as they wanted. Another one started crying because they worked so hard and only got a 4. All of the sudden I felt terrible. How could I send them into another test this upset about their scores? We had a pep talk and I spent time with each of them at lunch trying to ensure they could go into the science test with a clear mind. Note to self: don't give any scores back until all testing is done!

To end it all, I had this conversation with one of my boys:
Him: I wish I was a nerd.
Me: You don't think you're a nerd?
Him: Well I want to be because that would mean I'm smart, but if I'm not, I can't be called that.

Let's just say we're all glad testing is done!