Question: Johnny, can you please explain in five lines or less what kind of glasses Svenson would need if he is struggling to observe the characteristics of a Waxing Crescent Moon in his backyard while listing examples of the Doppler Effect even though he requires Cochlear Implants and the Parallel Circuitry on his neighbor's holiday lights are annoying him with their incessant blinking during what is supposed to be the serene time of the Winter Solstice?
Tomorrow morning my students will have completed their fifth grade Connecticut Mastery Test (CMT) experience, a series of tests designed to measure student aptitude and ultimately my performance in teaching core curriculum, culminating with Science. There are a variety of well documented reasons to hate the CMTs and the Science CMT in particular that I won't get into here. In many ways, I hate it too. Yes, there are many other creative endeavors to pursue that would honestly provide my classroom with more of the inquiry based learning that our nation's politicians and science leaders so crave. ( I can't wait to teach them the science of the potato chip for example.)
But, I also enjoy it. I appreciate how my class comes together to embrace the challenge that is facing them. I love how some students go home, further research a topic on line, and return to discuss their findings with me. I appreciate the many opportunities for humor that science instruction, typically at the end of each day, brings to us as a class. I love the "aha" moment when a student finally understands a key concept. I live for the student who pulls it all together and stumps me with a complicated question that I can't
immediately answer and we try to solve it together.
Yet, while all of those reasons are wonderful and fulfill me as a teacher, my life is defined more by human relationships than work or learning. It was the encouragement and nurturing of important people in my life, some of whom are sadly no longer with us, who put me in a position to open up to learning and opportunities. One of my "Beautiful Rewards", as Bruce Springsteen terms it, is to sit on the other side of the table, and lead a group of students who respect and look up to me, in the same direction that my people led me. Along the way, before many could even comprehend what a "wave length" was, they had to be taught about the importance of pride, confidence, respect, and dedication. These skills will remain with my student long after any test has been completed and turned into a data table.
Unlike a Reading test that measures comprehension of a specific text, or even the bulk of the Math test which is fairly predictable, the Science test covers a plethora of material and requires more common sense and awareness than the others . We discussed, researched, and investigated as much of it as we could.
I cannot take the test for them tomorrow. We will warm up with a song from my Ipod (no, I do not play them Springsteen each time but if I could I would play Wrecking Ball if not for his reference to "growing a pair of balls"...can't play that), and then I will read to them the lengthy redundant instructions from the teacher's manual. I then become the manager sitting in the dugout watching events play out on the field that I created.
Now it is their turn to do well on their own terms. I have brought them as far as I could up to this point in time. Like me, they have the rest of their lives to try and figure things out.
Just remember that a green balloon will appear black if a red light is shined upon it.
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