Let it snow
Jan. 21st, 2007 07:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
queenbookwenchWell, I survived Saturday Test Prep--my first class sort of lulled me into a false sense of security because there were only 4 of them (there were supposed to be more but no one else came) and they were pretty quiet and well-behaved--my only problem was keeping them awake. But the next group was really disruptive and silly, and totally overwhelmed the quiet half of the group. I ended up having the program director come over and speak to them, and she told me afterwards that I should just send people straight to her if their behavior becomes an issue.
I did what I thought was a good exercise, where we went through the test, and I asked different people to say their answer, and explain why they chose it, whether it was right or wrong. What I wanted them to understand is that wrong answers have a logic to them just as right answers do, but it's not the kind of logic the test wants. "Learn to think like the test," I told them, and I also explained how the test makers try to deliberately distract them by providing answers that are sort of right but not completely right. We also came across some really ambiguous and downright deceptive test items, which did nothing to diminish my belief that standardized tests are a lousy way to evaluate learning.
Tonight, though I am obsessively refreshing the closings page on channel 4 and hoping for a snow day tomorrow (or a 2-hour delay at the very least). I went to a yoga workshop in Dupont Circle right after church today (and I need to remember to email my friend Israel and thank him for rushing me to the Metro so that I could get back to DC), and wandered around for a while, feeling pleased by the falling snow, browsing in bookstores, and noting sadly that the plant store on the corner where I'd planned to go get houseplants when I had some extra money had closed sometime in the last few weeks since I'd been over there. On the way back to the metro, I saw next to CVS the mound of dirty blankets that usually marks the resting place of a homeless person, and I felt the brush of worry and guilt as I thought about where that person would likely be exposed to the cold weather. A Street Sense (the newspaper produced and sold by people who are homeless) vendor solicited me with a smile, and I felt bad that I didn't have any change.
When I was in Dupont, it seemed like the snow had only just begun to stick, but when I got off in my neighborhood, which is much less traveled, I saw that nearly an inch was sticking on the sidewalk, and it was starting to coat the streets as well. The streetlights gave the snowy air that fabulous orange glow, and I walked down the sidewalk toward my apartment, quietly chanting "Snow day, snow day, we're gonna have a snow day." I felt very much in touch with my inner six-year-old.
I did what I thought was a good exercise, where we went through the test, and I asked different people to say their answer, and explain why they chose it, whether it was right or wrong. What I wanted them to understand is that wrong answers have a logic to them just as right answers do, but it's not the kind of logic the test wants. "Learn to think like the test," I told them, and I also explained how the test makers try to deliberately distract them by providing answers that are sort of right but not completely right. We also came across some really ambiguous and downright deceptive test items, which did nothing to diminish my belief that standardized tests are a lousy way to evaluate learning.
Tonight, though I am obsessively refreshing the closings page on channel 4 and hoping for a snow day tomorrow (or a 2-hour delay at the very least). I went to a yoga workshop in Dupont Circle right after church today (and I need to remember to email my friend Israel and thank him for rushing me to the Metro so that I could get back to DC), and wandered around for a while, feeling pleased by the falling snow, browsing in bookstores, and noting sadly that the plant store on the corner where I'd planned to go get houseplants when I had some extra money had closed sometime in the last few weeks since I'd been over there. On the way back to the metro, I saw next to CVS the mound of dirty blankets that usually marks the resting place of a homeless person, and I felt the brush of worry and guilt as I thought about where that person would likely be exposed to the cold weather. A Street Sense (the newspaper produced and sold by people who are homeless) vendor solicited me with a smile, and I felt bad that I didn't have any change.
When I was in Dupont, it seemed like the snow had only just begun to stick, but when I got off in my neighborhood, which is much less traveled, I saw that nearly an inch was sticking on the sidewalk, and it was starting to coat the streets as well. The streetlights gave the snowy air that fabulous orange glow, and I walked down the sidewalk toward my apartment, quietly chanting "Snow day, snow day, we're gonna have a snow day." I felt very much in touch with my inner six-year-old.
