I'll get you my pretty and your little dog too!

So I was writing on the board today and a student asked me if it was hard being a teacher and having people judge you by your handwriting on the board all the time. I said not nearly as hard as being judged on my inability to keep my opinion to myself.

I loath standardized tests. I think they are useful and necessary measures, but I do not think they should rule education the way they do. Further I think that the people that write them are demented. Sometimes I think these people get together, throw back a lot of beers and say, how can we be as confusing as possible and make teachers/students nuts? This is not to be confused with the people who say, how can we write a test that looks hard, but is very easy and we can then take credit for raising academic standards?

Anyway, we had a recent battery of these monsters and they were of a new "breed." I made the mistake of specifically and in detail explaining to me administrator why these tests were flawed. Now, supposedly, he likes me. (And I admire him more than any other administrator I've ever worked with). He showed his faith in my by having me represent our entire high school at a Board of Education Meeting to discuss what to do about these tests in the future, the letter we want to mail to the state and better preparing our kids. This means I have to find a sub, rework my lesson plans, grade work I could have supervised in class and spend time with the administrator I like least in my career (she is in charge of testing for the county and she had her own platinum broom with cat affixed and wart to match...).

Like I said, in the future I will keep my mouth shut!