Test Results

If you think education is expensive, try ignorance. ~Attributed to both Andy McIntyre and Derek Bok

Nothing philosophical tonight, just a slice of life.

I got my test results back for last year's English II exam takers. It was better than I was afraid of, but not as good as I'd dreamed. The scores seemed to bear out the observations I'd made in class. The scores also roughly correlated to the pass/fails in my class which made me feel good. That means my curriculum was pretty well adjusted to the material tested. Overall, even though I see lots of room for improvement, it went okay for my first year.

One small petty note...my worst attitude problem from last year failed every section of the test. I guess I was right. :)

I worked at registration today and met some of my future AP kids. I also got a chance to talk with another first-time AP teacher who's going to be doing AP Chemistry. It was good to compare notes and fears. I have a lot of work to do, but I feel pretty confident about the whole thing. Of course, I think that's the point at which the floor usually falls out from under you, right?

After registration, I went up to my classroom to piddle and get some work done. Imagine my surprise when I found that I couldn't get to my room from 2 of the 4 staircases. They'd removed everything and blocked the stairs in preparation to strip and reseal my floors. Apparently, I have a lot of crap in my room. I guess I won't be able to go up tomorrow, either. I don't know how long it takes to do stuff like that, but I'm guessing it's an all day event.

I really need to get in there, too. I have a lot of work to do, and I can't get much of it done here at home. There are too many distractions here...cats, TV, books I don't have to read for a class, my blog, a soft, sleep-inducing couch.... Maybe I can go in Thursday morning and get stuff squared away.

Well, nothing Pulitzer-worthy tonight. If you tuned in for deep thoughts, you'll have to look elsewhere, ace.