Quadratic Thoughts

Boy howdy, was today ever a doozy in terms of the ISTEP testing. I found the following problems with it:

• There was some confusion with how students should present fractions on the test. Plus, it was the same way they were expected to present division problems. Now, you and I both know that every fraction is a division problem, but most fifth graders don't. I tried my best to guide them through it individually, but not all of the buttons reacted the way they should have. 
• ISTEP was clearly not written by current classroom teachers. It was obviously written by "professional" and "fairly" paid individuals who "understand" how kids think and what their experiences "are". 

In addition to ISTEP's innate faults, my class endured a class making tons of noise from across the hall, hearing every word of the video being shown next door, and hearing a ton of blocks being spilled from the room caddy-cornered from our testing room.

Plus, our schedule is weird. We have recess in the afternoon after lunch (a welcome change), and I have to say that my class did incredibly well today.

I hope everyone has had a great Monday. As far as I'm concerned, I'm over and out.