Stupid Test Scores

So today ends another work week and boy am I glad! The first part of the week wasn't too bad, but then came golf course nights on Wednesday and Thursday. Got to help the new kid pick the range on Wednesday and then got to pick it all by myself on Thursday. That sucked! We have this golf cart with this cage on it and these big rolling things in front to pick up the balls. Let's just say it is not designed for this. The damn thing only turns to the left, you have to go up the hill at a slant, can't go backwards, and doesn't pick up half the balls you run over. It was very tiring. Then to top it off, the golf pro topped off the pyramids of balls before he finished his lessons which is like 8 pyramids with like 100 balls in them or something. Two guys stayed until 10 minutes before the range was supposed to close and hit almost all of them out onto the range. Just as I would get one area where they weren't hitting cleaned up and had moved on to another, they would switch clubs and starting hitting in to the area where I had just been. Now you might think, just wait til everyone leaves, but you can't. We close the range at 7 and it gets dark at 8. I started picking at 5 and at 7:30 there were still balls on the range. I finally said screw it...not gonna happen. Did what I could, cleaned up, and headed back up to the shop to finish up what had to be done there. So tired when I got home last night.

Now as tired as I was I had to watch my Thursday night lineup of TV! Survivor had me laughing out of my chair as the voted off member started professing his love for one of the other castaways. The look on the host's face was priceless! Then I got to stare at McDreamy on Grey's Anatomy. However, not sure what to think. What does he do? after months of leading her on and still staying with his wife, tells her he loves her. Isn't that just so typical of men? Now according to her she has a choice! What about his choice? Seems as if he is just waiting to see what she says before dumping or not dumping his wife. Ok now wait a minute...that just isn't right! If I was her (and I so want them together) I would stick with Finn at this point. Then came the season premiere of ER. Love ER! Good episode! Sad for Abby and Kovac though. I like them together. And then Sam firing the gun at the end. Wow! Can't wait til next week. Thursday is definitely a busy night for TV.

Today was spirit day and everyone was dressed in camos for the homecoming football game tonight and it has been pouring rain all day. What a mess it is going to be tonight! However, I got to spend my planning hour in a stupid meeting about portfolios today. In addition to teaching like 13 chapters in 18 weeks, we are supposed to be putting a writing portfolio piece in as well. Now where in the hell am I going to fit that. It's bad enough that I have to go so fast to cover the content, now you want me to move even faster to stick in writing. It's just too much for the kids to take in, they fall behind and our test scores drop. Now there's another story. I am just sick and tired of hearing about these damn test scores. I am doing all that I can in my classes and the kids still don't perform well. Why? Because (and I'm sure you've heard it before) they are not held accountable! The kids know that what they do doesn't affect them, it only the kids after them and the teachers. Plus, it is like comparing apples to oranges. How can you compare one group of kids one year to another group the next year. I'm sorry but I just don't believe you can constantly score higher and higher with different groups of kids. We were talking about it at lunch today, and why not give the freshmen a test when they enter school and then give them an exit test when they are seniors. Compare the same kids and how they do, rather than two different sets of kids. Show what kids learned in high school by having the same teachers, etc. I just don't get it. All I know is that I am working my ass off and it's not getting done. Even so far as to receive an email from the higherups about how embarassed they are at the test scores and how we aren't doing enough. Honestly, I don't know what else I can do.

Whew! out of breath after that one! LOL! Well gotta head to the game in a while to take up ticket money! Fun time! Have a great weekend!