Thursday, March 5, 2009

Moving On

School: The dreaded FCAT testing for students occurs this coming Tues 3/10 (reading), Weds 3/11 (math), and the following Mon 3/16 (science). I think my students are prepared. I have some concern due to my principal telling me the gains the reading students had last year were not as significant as he hoped. As I wasn't at this school last year, I am not certain how much "growth" he is expecting. I think there is a conflict because many of my students have already had a year or more lexile growth, as gauged by the Read180 software program used in my classroom. However, this growth may not be good enough for them to score well on the FCAT. The problem (as I see it) is when students are low level readers (I have some that began the year as low as a 1st or 2nd grade reading level,) then even if they make great strides, it is still not "enough" for them to pass a test that is written on an 8th grade level. Bleck! Blasted FCAT! I hate that there is so much emphasis on one test...I'll get off my soap-box now.

Online Community: Thanks in part to the Stirrup Queen's amazing list of miscarriage/infantloss/infertility/adoption etc. blogs, I have connected with many amazing women. I consider myself part of the "Secondary Infertility" group. I have soooo appreciated having women I can relate to. And while this blog is still MY outlet, and written mostly for ME, I have to be honest...comments are wonderful. It's great knowing there are people "checking in" with me. Thank you, dear readers. :)

Quick Update--Jury Duty: After being narrowed down from a group of 400 potential jurors to 50 to 35, I was NOT selected for the final jury of 7. I did enjoy my day of "jury duty," and actually ended up hoping I'd be selected for the trial, because the whole process was so interesting. Maybe next time...

Quick Update--Black History Month Choir: I participated in a "faculty choir" for my school's Black History Month presentation. It was great fun, and I even ended up with a solo. We sang Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie's "We Are the World." The students LOVED it. I had a blast! I sang in choirs from elementary school through college, but haven't really done anything (except an occasional karaoke) since graduating from college. It was fun!

Health: I took a sick day today and went to the doctor. Received a RX for nasal spray and an antibiotic. I'm glad I went, as I was diagnosed with sinusitis, but Dr said it would likely have turned into an ear infection if I had waited it out another day. (I had an ear infection last fall---NOT fun.)

Sighs...felt a little "ouch" when I had to complete the "# of pregnancies" and "# of live children" blanks on the admission paperwork. Prior to my miscarriage I never really thought about these items. How do people who have actually endured the DEATH of a child handle these type of situations? Is it sick that I felt a little grateful that I had "a miscarriage" and was not further along? Gulp.

Last week I had my first cycle since my January miscarriage. I guess this means my body is moving on??

2 comments:

Marie W said...

I can relate to how you are feeling about the FCAT. I am very nervous about my student's performance. They did not do well last year mainly in part sue to the teacher who had my position last year, and they are expecting me to bring up the scores this year. GOOD LUCK next week!

tbonegrl said...

I hope they do well. I am so tired of the standards they hold us to in regards to testing. It's hard not to "teach to the test."

We have testing next week too.

I hope you feel better!