MCT

All of us have soent this entire year preparing our students for a state assesment. These tests not only gauge what our studnets know, but what we have taught them (or have not taught them) The anxiety of the whole situation is exhausting. You spend the entire second semester on pins and needles. Fear clutches at you as you approach test day. There are numerous workshops, classes, and meetings. You prep your students on how to take tests and what to expect. They see hundreds of questions like the ones that will be on the test. There are test pep rallies and assemblies. And then the test day arrives. The students scribble and bubble furiously. You walk around the room praying the whole time that they will pass and your school will be a Level 3, 4, 5. Then suddenly its over and school returns to a normalcy that is rare. A normalcy that you remember from when you were in school and there was no such thing as a "high stakes test." A normalcy that these students no nothing about. And you wonder what all the hype was for anyway and vow to enjoy the last weeks of school when you can just teach. Funny thing is-that is what you were supposed to have been doing all year. And you realize that you will do it all again next year.

House Hunting

I've begun a new phase in my life-buying a house. When I began, I had all these ideas about what kind of house I wanted and what type of neighborhood I wanted to live in. Then I began looking for that home and quickly realized that if it did exist, it was way outside of my price range. So I moved on to the next best thing and started to look for a house that I liked, but which didn't necessarily have all the criteria that I had first looked for. Once again, I was surprised to find that out of the 10 houses that I've seen already very few had any qualities that I want in my future home. I've also learned more about foundations, paint, carpet, crime statistics, and square footage than I ever thought I wanted to know, yet is extremely important in selecting a house to purchase. Not to mention the wealth of information that I've learned about loans and bond money and closing costs and ugh. The more I look for a suitable home for my son and future family, the more frustrated I get. Then I remember that patience is a virtue and to have it is to understand that what you want will come to you in due time. (Those of you that are religious will understand that.) So I press on, remembering that this is only a test of my endurance and soon I will find what I am looking for.