it's the end of the quarter

The end of the third quarter signals a few things to your average high school teacher.

1. We're in the home stretch to the end of the school year. This is thrilling (we get to sleep in! no more grading!), but also a bit sad. We've spent the whole year getting to know our students and in just a few short months, it will all be over. Each class has its own personality. Some are smart-alecks, some are lethargic (particularly after lunch), some are over-achievers (why aren't you in honors?) and others should receive a group-rate discount on Ritalin or Adderal. Students who got on my very last nerve in September are suddenly far less irritating. Some kids have gotten their acts together (ah, maturity!) and still others have backslid into what will likely be a one-way trip to continuation school. While I do long for the relaxation and full time SAHM status for 10 weeks, I will also mourn the loss of community with entire classes and with individual students. Right now I know which students can be teased and which are very sensitive. Come August/September, I will have to tread carefully as I get to know each student and class and assess their temperment. It's exciting of course (I can try out this lesson and see how it works this year!), but it's also daunting.

2. Fourth quarter also signals, unfortunately, the arrival of CSTs and high stakes testing. We get one week of regular instruction when we get back from spring break to cram in the last of the materials on the pacing (racing?) chart and then it's two weeks of nearly daily testing. Though the kids get tired of what appear to be endless testing, we are instructed by administration to cajole our students to at least TRY to do well on their exams (which have absolutely no bearing on their final grade) and pray that they bring enough distractions to keep them from disturbing others for the entire testing period. For this brief period, in my classes at least, they are urged (begged?), to bring a book, newspaper, iPod, WHATEVER to keep them occupied. For several days, we have two hours with a particular group of testing, then ANOTHER two hours with the same students for regular instruction. Yes, that's four hours with the same group of students. It's these days that I most fully appreciate our elementary school compatriots, since after those four hours, even the most likable group of students becomes too much.

3. Lastly, 4th quarter for history teachers means that we get to teach, more or less, what we want. Since we have to teach four quarters worth of standards in 3 quarters (to get the kids ready for those all important exams), it's in the 4th quarter that we get to do projects, activities and other lessons that we just don't have time for in the rest of the school year. It's liberating, but also somewhat confusing. Much like a prisoner who has become so accustomed to the regular routine of the incarcerated life that he is unable to function in unfettered freedom of the outside world, the history teacher who gets to teach without district mandated exams and common assessments is often confused and hesitant. You mean I get to teach about the rest of the world in world history now? Not just Europe? I can teach about Africa? Really? Even Latin America and Asia? Cooooool! But wait! There aren't any common assesments???? What will we do in our PLC meetings???