October Rush
October is such a busy time for me. I have to evaluate each of my thirty-five students online, for fifty different criteria for each child. The old-fashioned method of using pencil and paper would be much faster. Even though I've been testing kids individually and working on this assessment ever since school started in August, the final rush to get it done before parent/teacher conferences is almost overwhelming. I certainly couldn't do it without the assistance of my faithful para-professionals. But, finally, it's done! What a relief! This assessment is partially the result of the No Child Left Behind legislation, which is about ten years old. On one hand, such assessments provide valuable information about each child, so that I can tailor my lesson plans to meet each child's needs, and share assessment results with eager parents. But, on the other hand, the whole assessment process takes away from the time I could be using to work wit...