Last year at this time, I was a pirate walking the plank. This year, I’m ready for the storm.
I just have to wait for all of my shipmates to do their part. If they do, it’ll be smooth sailing.
It’s too quiet. Does that mean something is afoot?
While we have a holiday break coming, there is much to be done. And it’s too quiet. There are less than 10 instructional days before our students take final exams for first semester. It’s too quiet. Last year at this time, I was a pirate walking the plank. This year, I’m ready for the storm. But it’s still too quiet. I can’t really be that prepared, can I?
 I have literally laid out materials for new faculty to our school who are unacquainted with my methodical madness for test day.
I’ve sorted teachers for Test Manual training based on whether they are administering an online or paper-pencil test. I’ve sent out instructions (in a manual and in a screencast I created as I toyed with annotations in YouTube for the first time) for creating accounts in order to administer online exams. |
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 I have verified and in some cases manually entered accommodation data in the Test site for our students with modifications for online exams. I have printed out paper versions of required documentation for the exams that are not online.
I have manually entered classroom numbers for every students North Carolina Final Exam or End-of-Course Exam for four days of testing so he/she has a test schedule letter that will be mail merged next week and distributed the Monday we come back from break. |
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 I’ve bagged Testing Accountability forms, testing signs, pencils, blank paper, tissues, and stickies for cell phone collection for online test administrators. I’ve boxed the same materials for paper-pencil administrators and will add the tests and answers sheets next week.
First I will have to take them out of bags that are sorted by class period and teacher and remove materials for students testing in accommodation settings. Then count the exams and answer sheets and re-sort them by testing room. At least this time, it’s only math and science. Then my district office will deliver the plastic tubs and I can unpack them and place them in the appropriate bag or container. |
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| I’m ready. I just have to wait for all of my shipmates to do their part between now and next week. If they do, it’ll be smooth sailing.
If they don’t…release the Kraken. All photos above by Tori Mazur are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. |
