Milestones Testing

 Today was Beanie's first Milestone testing. 

Its a state mandated test that all students from Grade 3 to Grade12 must take. Its a full week of testing, about 2 hours each day. In Beanie's case, since she is in Grade 3, she has three days of ELA (English Language Arts) and two days of Math.

The teacher has been drilling them on reading and writing since it is also an indication of her teaching skills. At home I have been working with Beanie, doing mock tests to get her comfortable with the format and writing.

Today was Day 1. 

I was nervous because though Beanie is incredibly smart, she does not always apply herself. And she detests writing.

I was waiting for her at the bus stop when I get this email from her teacher :-(

Just touching base with you about an observation with sweet "Beanie" during the test today.  She was disengaged enough that I feel the need to reach out to you.  I had to ask her to turn her body to sit properly at her desk and to sit up (twice).  She also kept angling her screen downward where it would be difficult for her to view all the material easily.  

"Beanie" seemed to be one of the first students finished and she reviewed for a decent period of time but the amount of writing she did on the constructed response questions did not appear to be substantial.  I'm not allowed to read her material or her responses so I have no idea what the topics were, but I noticed that her writing was just a few lines (at most).

Will you please remind her that she is more than capable of doing a great job by thoroughly reading the material and prewriting or organizing her thoughts before following the writer's checklist that is provided, even if she doesn't love the topic?  I hope that tomorrow brings about a new approach to taking the test and she shines bright like I know she can.

Ugh.

So after she had her snack I spoke to her about it. There was immediate drama - tears, the teacher is so mean, etc.

I appreciate the teacher emailing me. Beanie is a gifted child and super smart and I know she expects better quality work from her, as do I.

We did another mock test and talked about how she needs to write more than 1-2 sentences, elaborate her answers, use her paper to jot down ideas before she writes, etc.

Hopefully tomorrow will be a better test day!