The end is near.....

I work at a high school and the ebb and flow of the year revolves around graduation.  About half of our students are Seniors and will not continue on but with a good push to the end will walk for their diploma.  I felt tired and frustrated this week with students expecting to not have to do assignments since they had to take State required tests.  I am watching their efforts trying to cut corners and do as little as possible with feelings of irritation and frustration.  I reminded them in a month they would be out in the working world and their work ethic would be graded by a boss that doesn't care if he hurts your feelings or not.  Unfortunately for me, the added frustration is that I believe standardize testings is the biggest fraud ever.  No one gets anything out of it except those selling the test.  The original idea was to keep slacking schools up with the exceptional schools.  It didn't worked as planned.  Now exceptional schools are burdened down with spending their time trying to meet the agenda of some person in an office that never stepped foot in a school room.  I also watch the insanity of seeing a program work at one school and attempt to duplicate it at the other school without fully embracing the entire program.  I felt like a guinea pig when I was in school and after 30 years not much has changed.  I do like working with the teachers that I assist.  Both women are amazing people that want to help students succeed.  Hours of work beyond the school day are invested in creating an engaging and comprehensive program to help them through out their lives.  I feel like it is a privilege to work with them.  I am looking forward to the testing being over as much, if not more, than the students. 

Less than 4 weeks to graduation