Immovable

Once I found my breaker groove yesterday, it was not as bad as I thought. I spent my morning examining former colleagues' classrooms, ten minutes at a time, while kids I knew and didn't know read from their screens like zombies, tapping their selections to multiple-choice questions. Those students who were finished sat at their desks like airline passengers decades ago at the gate, waiting for a long-delayed flight. Without screens, a few read books, a couple did puzzles on paper, many stared into space, sighing, and a few tried to find a position comfortable enough to sleep. 

It made me sad for two reasons. First, I could see how dependent we have all become on our devices to fill our time. Second, I still don't quite get the ethics of forcing kids to stay in a room for hours to take a test that should only take a fraction of that time, even after taking into account that the policy is meant to discourage rushing.

Surprise! I'm still not a fan of universal high-stakes testing.