Test Anxiety?

As a teacher, I understand the importance of tests in school. I really, really do. We need the children to be able to show us what they know, since in life, it doesn't really matter what your potential is to your boss... he just cares if you can produce.

And I also get the whole idea of alternative forms of assessment, since I know students sometimes do have issues with the actual testing part, so if you can observe them to give them their grade, it works for those students.

But sometimes, you simply must just give a regular, pencil-and-paper test.

AND I HATE IT.

Not only do the children whine like I have taken all hope, fun, and candy out of the universe, after they do the test, I get, as a reward for being a good teacher who is preparing her students for their whole lives, a huge stack of tests that I get to grade.

Giving a test is an immediate night, or weekend, killer for me. Even if I feverishly work on it as soon as I get home, I usually cannot finish it in only one night. The best part about teaching language arts is that the children all write lots of things on their test, which I have to read and fix, and sometimes translate into English, since it's in some insane-looking children-babble.

So the very next day, the kids all pounce on me and want to know what they got on the test. My response is usually something along the lines of, "I don't know! And even if I did grade your test, do you honestly think that I remember your grade? Unless you usually fail and you did really well, or you usually fail but did well, I don't tend to even look at the names as I grade, so stop bothering me!"

Of course, it depends on how grouchy I was before they came at me. If I am in a cheerful mood, and I didn't stay up late to work on the dumb tests, I respond with, "Do you really think I remember just your test?" or, "You got an F!" (This is my typical answer if the kids ever ask what their grade is.

So right before the Thanksgiving break, I very naively gave the students a large essay test, summing up the first portion of the novel we're currently reading in literature circles, so that I could grade them over my break. I must have forgotten that it is almost impossible to do work during a break, especially one that contains a holiday, since I am required to appear at family events, and assist there.

The test took them the entire block, which usually doesn't happen with my tests. Most students, when they finally turned in the test, handed me 3 pages painstakingly written, and then badly stapled. (Why is it, incidentally, that kids cannot use a stapler properly? They just shove it under the stapler and smash, not caring if the papers are lined up, facing the right way, or whatever. It really irritates me, since it means their papers won't stack nicely, but have bits sticking out all over...)

I now have a HUGE stack of essays to read, worry over, and grade.

I'm sorry, but I get really involved in the children's tests. I know I shouldn't get that involved, but I do. Many teachers have told me, some of them repeatedly, how you cannot fix every error in the children's stuff, and I know it's true, but if you don't show them how it's wrong, how will they learn? I don't fix every single error, but the glaring ones need attention. It really hurts when a kid I am worried about does badly (like my little darling girl, who I will call Heartbreaker, since her situation breaks my heart, as she's going through more than a kid should have to, plus she is sweet), and I wonder if it's because of something I did.

Also, like a fool, I had a project due that same week, so I also have those I'm supposed to be grading. Grrrr.

So, during my break, in a fit of energy, I started to grade the lovely essays. I then remember I do not have the questions with me, so I am not quite sure of the wording of the questions. Drat.

I finally get the questions and sit down at my dining room table to grade the papers. The very first one I start grading as this as the first answer:

"Well, the children's attitude was not good, but it wasn't bad either."

I stopped right there, and went back to preparing for the holiday.

I gave another test this week, so I now have a project, a essay test, and a spelling/vocabulary test to grade. Thankfully, I graded the tests today as they turned them in, so I am going to be able to get those out to them quickly, and just start slogging through the other ones.

I know many teachers who have given up giving any tests they are not multiple choice or true-false, since they're so much work. I see what they mean, but still can't bring myself to do it. I do have some tests that are multiple choice, but they need practice writing, and thinking, and taking those thoughts and putting them into a brief paragraph.

I think test anxiety not only affects the children, but also the teacher. Just mention to any teacher having an essay test, and then tell them they will be grading it, and there will be the anxiety.

Well, at least the kids seem to be doing well on the vocabulary test. Thank goodness for small favors!