April 27, 2010

Tuesday:

I blogged in my head today for hours. I had some great things to say... you see, today was TAKS (Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills) testing in Texas. I was in a room from 8:00 to 3:45 with 24 students and 1 other teacher while they took the math portion of the test. There is no reading, no phones, no computers... no fun. That's for the kids and the teachers. Things were great this morning - everyone behaved themselves. After lunch, the kids began to get antsy. I am sure I can't go into details because of testing security and blah blah blah, but you can just imagine how many times the 11 and 12 year old kids had to go to the bathroom when they were bored and finished testing.

I remember when I was in elementary school and we took the TAAS test. We used to be able to bring in a can (most kids brought in a coffee can, but I don't remember them saying exactly what size) and whatever we needed had to fit in that can. Snacks, pencils... whatever. Now we can't let the kids have snacks while they have the tests because the answer documents might get dirty and unscoreable (if that's even a word!). This morning before we passed out the test, the kids had to sign an oath saying they would not use their cell phones or any other electronic devices to cheat. Oh, and if they brought them to school (which they were told not to) we had to take them up, label them, and keep them in an envelope until after the test. Back then we didn't even know what a cell phone was. Oh, and this reminds me of something that has made me giggle more than once. Our principal has come on the announcements several times this week talking about leaving "electronical" items at home. "All of your cell phones, mp3 players, and other electronical devices need to be left at home so that we don't have to take them up." ROFL! Electronical. Ha! I just like typing it and seeing the little red squiggle under it letting me know it's misspelled.

So, I spent the day thinking of things to write about and how horrible standardized tests are and how they are killing our education system. I don't know what the solution is, but this aint it! Hey look! Another red squiggle under aint. He he he! I also started several plays... or novels... I'm not sure which... in my head. I'm great at thinking of characters and inciting incidents, but then my ADD kicks in and I forget what I was thinking or I get bored with it and don't want to finish. I only I could record what I "wrote" in my head and have some computer program to type it for me. I might be able to finish then.

So tonight the girls were both in a pretty good mood. I fed them and then I sat down to eat on the couch. They came over and begged like puppy dogs. :o) It didn't matter that they had both just eaten the same thing (pork chops and beans). It was on mommy's plate, so that made it better. So I did what any mommy would do... I made them work for it! They had to give each other hugs, mommy kisses, Dylan had to blow kisses and wave bye bye (her newest tricks) and Scout counted to 10 and said her A-B-Cs. I know, I'm horrible. But I got some cute pictures!

This was Scout "being sweet" to Dylan. When she was younger and we first got kittens, we told Scout she had to be sweet to them. She learned that "being sweet" meant petting them lightly on the head. So, when I told her to be sweet to sister, that's just what she did!


I know, it looks like she's attacking, but it's a hug and Dylan was loving it. I promise! Check out Scout's awesome hair!


This has probably been my most lengthy blog in a while. I kind of like it. I don't know who will read it, but it felt good to "say" it out loud. So, thanks for reading!

There we go. That's an okay picture of a hug. You can both have some beans. Ha ha ha ha!