Teaching the Test
I did my student teaching in a nearby school district that is famous for having a single academic goal for all its students: performing well on the state test. Comprehension, excitement for the subject matter, depth & breadth, knowing students' names...all of these were secondary to being ready for the state test. All department exams were coordinated and presented to look like those year-end exams and it was hammered home at every opportunity.Needless to say, that district leads all surrounding districts in performance on state tests. And, over the years, families have fled our district to go where they perceived the teaching to be better. Thus Fresno Unified has lost its best students in a vicious cycle of epic proportions.
I wouldn't last a day in that district.
In fact, I interviewed for a job there about 20 years ago. After a three-hour interview, during which I spoke probably 100 words while the principal pontificated on "The Spartan Philosophy," I called the district office and withdrew my application. We got along about as well as Batman and the Joker. And, yes, I am the Joker in that analogy.
AP classes are a little different. Passing the test is the point of the class. The test is where students earn college credit. So, sure, we have fun along the way and I color outside the lines from time to time...but I do my best to make sure my kids pass that test. At least I'm not as bad as one of my nephew's AP teachers, who gives so much homework and is so demanding that his students hate his class (and, yeah, him)...all in an effort to have them ready to take three (count 'em, 3!) AP tests. The man should be both drawn and quartered. Perhaps eighthed.
Judging from the looks of them yesterday, I don't think many of my kids passed. But that's okay too. I encourage all of my Calculus students to retake the class in college. It's an easy "A" for most of them and the depth of their comprehension becomes far greater. So, whether or not they passed that monster of a test, they all learned a great deal, worked hard, and can now breathe a sigh of relief and start getting ready for college.
Here's the thing though. It's not just school districts and overly ambitious AP teachers that are guilty of teaching the test. We've done it, and still do it, in the church as well. I remember being in many a Sunday School class where I would have sworn there was going to be a test at the end of it. And I have known plenty of people who live their lives, and treat others, as though there was going to be one whopper of an exam just outside the pearly gates.
St. Peter: "Ooooooooooohhhhh, that's too bad, Mr. Jones. The answer we were looking for on Question #113 was 'transignification' not 'transubstantiation.' Eternal damnation awaits."
Last night, we drove to Madera to see The African Children's Choir perform. Yes, we got smiles and waves and hugs from our girls. Travisan even seemed distracted a couple of times on stage as she looked out to be sure we were watching her. It was such a great joy to get to see them again. While we were there, Ray, the bus driver, told us that they were going to be in Monterey Saturday and Sunday. Since we were already headed there...James has an appointment with some otters at the Aquarium...we may just get to see them one more time. God is good.
Why the digression? Because the church we met there was raw. It was obvious that most of the people there didn't know how to "do church" right. It was noisy, the kids were running everywhere, the men in charge of the collection got up at the wrong time and actually shouted instructions back and forth at each other while the choir was singing.
It was wonderful.
Here were people that were not raised in the church. Their passion for Christ came from a very real acknowledgment of their salvation. The words overheard before the performance were not "redemption" and "sanctification" but "praise" and "sobriety." Here was a place where people knew what it was like to be lost and, better, what it was like to be found. If St. Peter gave them a scantron sheet, they would bubble in a happy face and turn it back in.
The real test is in how we treat people like this, in how we see them. Are they distractions that keep us from what we consider the "real work" of the kingdom? Or are they the kingdom? Just where does the love of God end? The more time I spend in the Word, the more time I spend in the world, the more time I spend with the church...the whole church...the more I realize how much I have to learn. And how much people like those I met last night have to teach me.
posted by Thurman8er @ 8:24 AM
6 Comments:
Good words, Steve. Very good.
Wow, wow, wow! You certainly nailed that test I mean post today.
I am being removed after 25 years of service as a Bible Camp Coordinator because of our "possible" merger with our local Conservative Christian Church.
Apparenlty I got "#113" wrong on their test. We have ruined people in our fellowship by allowing them to think that they are in the only "right" church with the only "right" doctrine which provides the only "right" answers for God's test.
I think the true "final exam" is found in Matthew 25. We need to have those questions right according to Jesus.
I think I can remember being in classes where a test WAS given. That's probably why I actually remember once, when I taught a 7th & 8th grade girls class, that I actually GAVE a test. Our preacher's daughter was in the class, and her mother (all of the family being our good friends) told me how stressed out Jeanna' had been about that test! (She probably knew more than I did!) I like to think I have at least progressed beyond that level in my walk with the Lord.
Wonderful blog, Steve. You have a gift for "cutting to the chase" and having the courage to write about it.
If I were to take a "church test", I'm sure I would fail miserably. I wonder if I would even be eligible to take it, according to many "church people's" standards.
When I begin to feel the effects of broken-ness and rawness, I just read Psalms 139.
Obviously, I'm NOT talking about a #2 pencil-fill-in-the-scantron type of test!
You gave me chills. Thanks for the timely reminder.
The AP test was harder then any midterm or final I have taken so far. Its your teaching style that has allow me to pass Calc in college.
These students may have failed the AP test but for sure they will pass if not ace Calc in college and that is what matters because it counts towards GPA.
-nhat
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