We found a note coming home one day
Hello everyone. Kaitlyn and I have made it through…testing week that is. You see, every year each state has a mandated state test they have to give to measure their students’ annual yearly progress they’ve made in learning achievement. It’s one of those assignments given us as part of the No Child Left Behind Act. So, this week our school did ours. The test comprises Reading, Writing, & Math and spans three days. Each test has about 60-70 questions. All grades 3-9 take these tests, which in Alaska is officially called the State Based Assessment (SBA). Grade 10 has their own test called the High School Grade Qualification Exam (HSGQE), which covers the same subjects and days as the grades 3-9 tests. The HSGQE is an “exit” exam that all students need to pass before they can be awarded a high school diploma. These students, including grade 8 & 4 take an additional science test on Friday of the same length, which doesn’t count toward our schools score, just informational. Each teacher has a job to do during testing week. Kaitlyn was assigned all the 10th graders who are doing their HSGQE. If they pass their tests they don’t ever have to take them again, which is a big incentive to take the tests seriously. For all the other grades, it’s a different story. I (Tim) was assigned the 9th graders who are doing their SBA’s. SBA’s are not required for graduation and have no tie to individual student grades. This makes it incredibly difficult to persuade students to stay and do well on them. Most of the students don’t see any value in them and would rather stay home. We pretty much beg and plead students to come to school and take their exams. However, at the end of the day, you do the best you can and hope your students did the same. At the end of the week both teachers and students are exhausted and need a little down time to recuperate. Unfortunately, we weren’t really given any down time.
A week ago we were unable to have school because of weather…again. We were informed that our school year was not going to be extended in order to fulfill these missed days which is good, however, this means that we had to complete it on a Saturday. Just like the previous Saturday sessions of school we had this year (three and counting), very few students show up and actual class work isn’t really accomplished. That’s okay, because we were very tired. A few of the students asked if we were going to have a “play day” in the gym. They said they used to do that before previous principal came to Togiak. I guess since now he is gone they thought they could have it again. We were unaware of this tradition, but we thought it would be a good idea to let the kids run off some steam. The frightful thing about this is it can get very out of control very fast or kids just wont participate. Luckily, Kaitlyn is AMAZING. She single handedly organized and orchestrated two successful games of human foosball and Go-for-20. I wish we had taken a picture or video of the kids playing because just about everyone in the middle & high school participated. She deserves all the credit.
One of the reasons this post is late is because we had another storm on Sunday…a big storm. This storm came from the south. Storms with winds blowing from the south a very intense and usually bring a lot of snow and high winds which cause very deep snowdrifts. We had planned on attending an Easter-Sunday potluck at the school among friends, however, because of the storm it was agreed upon that it was too dangerous to navigate outside and the potluck was cancelled. The storm knocked out all satellite TV and Internet service and phone service for a while. Neither Kaitlyn nor I wanted to spend Easter Sunday alone, if we didn’t have to, so we decided to brave the storm and walk to our friend’s house near the school. The wind was still blowing hard, so we bundled up well and put all our food in a backpack and began our trek. Surprisingly, it wasn’t as bad as we were originally thinking. Firstly, as a disclaimer, we kept to the roads and followed the road to the school. We had to climb over drifts anywhere from 12 inches to 5 feet, but we got there. We enjoyed a great fish dinner with our dear friend Heather Jeffers and then returned home. It was really fun to go out in the storm. This is one thing that really has been surprising this year. The weather has seemed to be a little more extreme this year than last, actually a lot more extreme. It’s been fun.
A week ago we were unable to have school because of weather…again. We were informed that our school year was not going to be extended in order to fulfill these missed days which is good, however, this means that we had to complete it on a Saturday. Just like the previous Saturday sessions of school we had this year (three and counting), very few students show up and actual class work isn’t really accomplished. That’s okay, because we were very tired. A few of the students asked if we were going to have a “play day” in the gym. They said they used to do that before previous principal came to Togiak. I guess since now he is gone they thought they could have it again. We were unaware of this tradition, but we thought it would be a good idea to let the kids run off some steam. The frightful thing about this is it can get very out of control very fast or kids just wont participate. Luckily, Kaitlyn is AMAZING. She single handedly organized and orchestrated two successful games of human foosball and Go-for-20. I wish we had taken a picture or video of the kids playing because just about everyone in the middle & high school participated. She deserves all the credit.
One of the reasons this post is late is because we had another storm on Sunday…a big storm. This storm came from the south. Storms with winds blowing from the south a very intense and usually bring a lot of snow and high winds which cause very deep snowdrifts. We had planned on attending an Easter-Sunday potluck at the school among friends, however, because of the storm it was agreed upon that it was too dangerous to navigate outside and the potluck was cancelled. The storm knocked out all satellite TV and Internet service and phone service for a while. Neither Kaitlyn nor I wanted to spend Easter Sunday alone, if we didn’t have to, so we decided to brave the storm and walk to our friend’s house near the school. The wind was still blowing hard, so we bundled up well and put all our food in a backpack and began our trek. Surprisingly, it wasn’t as bad as we were originally thinking. Firstly, as a disclaimer, we kept to the roads and followed the road to the school. We had to climb over drifts anywhere from 12 inches to 5 feet, but we got there. We enjoyed a great fish dinner with our dear friend Heather Jeffers and then returned home. It was really fun to go out in the storm. This is one thing that really has been surprising this year. The weather has seemed to be a little more extreme this year than last, actually a lot more extreme. It’s been fun.
