Busy Busy Busy

(April 18, 2016)- This was an interesting week of being in the classroom. Our state (Illinois) is one of the few who still participates in PARCC testing. This week was testing week for the 3rd grade classes. I found it really interesting to watch how the teachers have to accommodate for this. Every day half the 6th grade tests during 1st and 2nd periods and 7th and 8th periods. That means the teachers during these periods are missing around half their classes, maybe more. The first group tests Monday, Wednesday, Friday and the second group tests Tuesday, Thursday, and the following Monday. Teachers have to work around this. For a whole week they basically have to teach 3 lessons twice. They have to track down kid’s homework who are testing. Some classes get further ahead based on how many kids are missing, and some fall further behind. I found it amazing how the teachers adapt to this.