Next week, we begin two weeks of state testing. And aside from my boys, that's pretty much all I am thinking about. Wanted to write something coherent, maybe even a poem that I could double dip for Poetry Friday, but mostly just have a bunch of random fragments floating around in my head.
Snowy
Saturday promised.
Should clean
house. Taxes waiting.
No thanks.
I’d rather read.
****************
This weekend
I will sit
down
And try to
make sense of the packet
my accountant sent
in January
I think it’s
the adult version
Of
the state reading test.
****************************
I wonder
how many adults
create total chaos
move all the furniture
cover all the pictures
unplug the internet
totally alter their normal routines
totally alter their normal routines
then sit down
at their desks
to do important work.
Because that's what our kids will do next week.
I wonder
how many adults
pick up a text--
perhaps a technical journal
or a magazine
on a hobby they have never tried
and read
with perfect comprehension?
Because that's what our kids will do next week.
And I wonder
how
many adults
Write
brilliantly
In 60
minutes
On a random
topic
Of someone
else’s choosing?
Because that's what our kids will do next week.
And I wonder
how many adults
Remember the
formulas
For the
surface area
and volume
Of a
cylinder
Without sneaking to the internet
To look them
up?
Because that's what our kids will do next week.
This line made me laugh:
ReplyDeleteI think it’s the adult version
Of the state reading test.
And you are completely right on the questioning of how many adults would do what our kids will do next week.
Your thoughts are so important about testing....why isn't anyone listening to us?
ReplyDeleteThey may be random thoughts to you but they are poetically versed. Good luck with the taxes (filled in my forms with several question marks for the accountant) and for the kids next week.
ReplyDeleteI was going to compliment the same line Carol. Who writes those things? I'm sorry for all the kids in our world and the testing. There's gotta be a better way!
ReplyDeleteI've been thinking many of these same thoughts as my own children take the ISAT test this week. Ugh.
ReplyDeletelove this...Write brilliantly
ReplyDeleteIn 60 minutes
On a random topic
How many of us could even do that and say something important and, of course, organized?
Wow...you've put it all in perspective. Our poor kids...
ReplyDeleteI love how your random thoughts came together - because that's what our kids do!
ReplyDeleteI laughed out loud when I read the lines about your tax packed being the adult version of the state reading test. So true. Good luck with that and good luck to all that your kids will do next week!
It is late and I've been reading for awhile. I should attempt a coherent thought, but instead I'm going leave some random thoughts in my comment. (It seemed fitting.)
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, you and I must agree on taxes. I always wonder how I can have two college degrees but agonize over taxes. If they are some form of reading assessment I fail miserably.
Cleaning isn't all it's cracked up to be. The house just gets dirty again.
Books are relaxing.
Time for spring.
I'm sure you likely intended your final section to be a poem and it is a terrific one. Who does turn their world upside down to do important work? (Wait, that is sort of how I do my taxes.) I love the repetition of "I wonder" and "Because that's what our kids will do next week."
Cathy
I love the connections between the adult reading of taxes (most people hire someone to pass that reading test) and what we ask our kids to do. I've been stewing over a month now over a comment made at a conference I attended. The presenter insisted that the state assessments are right on because that's how adults are expected to read and write for their jobs. I'm still asking, "Really?" I've never been asked to write on a random topic or read a random selection to answer multiple choice questions.
ReplyDeleteI love how you distinguish the process of learning from testing here. Poetry was the perfect vehicle for it. Thanks for sharing. I have to do my taxes too. Sigh.
ReplyDelete