TAKS chronicles

like my principals, i'm glad it's over. well, this round anyway. hopefully we'll get the results quickly like last year. i feel like a monstrous load has been lifted off of me (for now). i mean seriously, there were times while we were preparing for the test that i wanted to start playing this song:



oh there were some days where i had to dig DEEP. try to find a way to get the concept across. don't get me wrong. it's not that i don't believe in my students, but realistically (as it is the situation every year), some of them just aren't yet at the cognitive level they need to be at in order to reason through some of those skills and questions. during review, no matter all the hints, rephrasing, reteaching or different angles i tried to present the concept...some of them just couldn't get it consistently. anyhow, the kids worked hard and it was a long day for all of us.

the calm before "the storm".

jules and me sporting this year's TAKS shirt. the sun was shining pretty brightly and i couldn't get a good picture no matter the flash or setting on my camera. soooo irritated! from what i can make out, this was a good picture of us buds!

one more thing...{insert the kid's voice from jerry mcguire} did you know that texas hired former police officers to randomly monitor campuses across the state this year? yup, that's new. we were told in our training session that they would show up unannounced (but with credentials) to check us out. test security is HUGE this year. there wasn't any action at our campus, we're just a bunch of boring rule-followers. :)