3 Down...

So here's what happened this week, in reverse chronological order:

At about 2 PM on Friday, I wandered into Mrs. CowCulus's room to ask if there was anything I needed to know about the Focus Assessment that I was supposed to giving to my students in each class on Monday and Tuesday. Mrs. CowCulus wasn't there, but her faithful sidekick Mrs. D. was, feverishly attempting to get something done on Mrs. CowCulus's computer. (More about Mrs. D, a truly wonderful woman, and the very fun relationship she and Mrs. CowCulus have -- both long-time teachers at MHS.)

Interrupting her mid-stream (which I would ordinarily feel bad about, but the only way to speak with Mrs. D is to interrupt whatever she's doing -- I've never yet witnessed an occasion she wasn't grading papers, working on a lesson plan, making up a quiz, etc.), I asked her about the Focus Assessment. (This is part of the turnaround plan for MHS -- all 9th and 10th graders get 15 minutes of instruction each math class on some topic that will appear on the standarized, state-mandated test, then an assessment on those topics every 3 weeks or so. Don't get me started (again) on the value of that.) Anyway, she lets me know she's attempting to print the tests and answer sheets for her class.

"Um, so am I supposed to do the same thing for my classes?"

"Yes."

"Um, it's 2 PM on Friday... is this something somebody told me already and I just forgot about, or is it something no one happened to mention?"

"Well, I haven't seen any emails about it, except for the one giving us the dates. But last year we had to print the exams, so I was trying to remember how to do that."

"So... these exams won't show up Monday morning like the Benchmark assessment did this week?" (Another long story, but that was earlier in the week, and thus later in this blog, possibly.)

"No."

"Hmm..."

"And of course, you'll need different tests for the 9th graders and 10th graders."

"What about my 11th and 12th graders?"

"They don't take it."

"So I need something for them to do also? I guess I would have figured that out on my own at some point. Any chance anyone was planning to tell me any of this, you know, before Monday?" (Given that we were 15 minutes from the weekend at that point, the answer to this question is clearly "no.")

There's more to this conversation, most of which is distinctly R-rated. At some point, Mrs. CowCulus came back in and informed us that in order for anyone to print the exams, they had to be trained on the system. Therefore, we were pushing the assessment back to Tuesday and Wednesday, with training on Monday. Moments after she sends this email, the technology coordinator sends an email stating the training will be on Tuesday. Stay tuned.

Of course, I am again left wondering whether the administration has any idea that there are teachers in the classroom who have no idea what they're supposed to do to make any of these things happen. What if I had actually been working (say, grading some of those 400 papers I need to finish before Monday at 7:30 AM), and hadn't run into Mrs. D to ask?

OK... I actually have to attend to my certification class now. Possibly I'll get back to the week past, in order to avoid grading all those looming papers.