Testing Timer of Oz

March 10, 2015 by margaretsmn

SOL #10

This post lifts a line from Greg Armamentos. He wrote this most wonderfully expressed lament over PARCC testing.

Before we jam thermometers

into students

to measure

their current temperature,

Before we dig up

the seed we planted

to see if it is growing,

We must set the timer,

But not any timer.

Computers must be off.

Cell phones must be locked up.

No ticks or rings.

No sound but the deep breaths

of our students in the pressure cooker.

The district gives permission, my pretty,

to use the Promethean timer.

Does the great and powerful district know

that the Smart board has no brains of its own,

let alone a heart?

–Margaret Simon

Posted in Poetry, Slice of Life, Teaching | Tagged Greg Armamentos, PARCC timer, students, testing, Wizard of Oz | 12 Comments

12 Responses

on March 10, 2015 at 10:38 am | Reply Melanie Meehan (@MelanieMeehan1)

Your poem makes me wince and scrunch up my shoulders, Margaret. This testing things feels like such a conspiracy against public education sometimes. THe images and rhythm in your poem really capture the tension!
- on March 10, 2015 at 10:45 am | Reply margaretsmn
  
  I hope I don’t get in trouble for writing it, but it felt good to do it.
on March 10, 2015 at 10:51 am | Reply Carol

We start PARCC today. I will proctor three sessions. One to a smart, wonderful seventh grader who has been speaking English for about six months. My shoulders and jaw are already aching.
- on March 10, 2015 at 10:56 am | Reply margaretsmn
  
  Good luck. I am so anxious about where this test is leading us.
on March 10, 2015 at 12:07 pm | Reply Linda Baie

Best wishes, Margaret. I hear all this from all of you, and am grateful my students will only be faced with this in high school. Your words “students in the pressure cooker” resonate with me only because my grandson talks of the endless test prep he has.
on March 10, 2015 at 1:53 pm | Reply jarhartz

Wow! What images you created here. Timed on top of everything else is just wicked.
on March 10, 2015 at 3:09 pm | Reply bevbaird

What a powerful indictment of these cruel tests! I am so glad that I no longer have to administer them – like horrible tasting medicine. Soul destroying at its worst!
on March 10, 2015 at 4:23 pm | Reply Tara Smith

I need a Promethean timer… Coming through the tests have negated any sense I had that they may serve of some value. Very sad.
on March 10, 2015 at 4:47 pm | Reply Holly Mueller

Greg’s slice on testing was so powerful, and now so is yours. You both make me want to tackle testing frustrations in one of my slices. I think I will, but it takes some courage. I’m administering the test to a small group of 5th graders, but since I teach both 5th and 6th grades, my schedule will be affected for 12 days now and then another 12 days in April/May. Awful. It’s hard to remain positive.
- on March 10, 2015 at 9:47 pm | Reply margaretsmn
  
  I didn’t post on FB for fear of being reprimanded for this. But it’s actually meant to be tongue in cheek. I agree that we could do more with the class time. When I think about all that test prep, then test days, it bothers me to no end. Why can’t we just teach. (I’m not even mentioning all the benchmarking.)
on March 10, 2015 at 9:07 pm | Reply Donna Smith

Very powerful poem, Margaret. When the emperor has no clothes, someone has to say it.
on March 11, 2015 at 2:31 am | Reply readingtothecore

These lines, “before we dig up/the seed we planted/to see if it’s growing…” break my heart. Beautifully written, Margaret.