It is always such a long day - for everyone involved. The kids have 4 hours to spend on the test. If they finish before that 4 hours they can only read. I found myself thinking how often have I ever in my life sat still for 4 hours. Pretty sure that is never. If I'm still I go to sleep. I am a doer. I need to be doing something. I noticed kids today that seemed to be desperate to be doers.
We attended 5th period as usual and I told the students that I needed 30 minutes from them and then I would give them 30 minutes to get their brains back. I was a bit worried at how they would react having to "do" something with only have a 30 minute lunch break since the test.
We are still doing our data tables for our or "my traits" page and then doing graphs for our class. The kids did so good. I kept trying to redirect them when they didn't need to be directed in the first place. They knew what they were doing and all completed their tables and then their brains were theirs to take back.
They did not mind having a specific task to do. It was engaging to them. It got them up, moving around and polling their classmates.
I did have one student come up to me and say, "Coach Boyd, you probably don't hear this very often, but, today, I missed this class." He had a great big grin on his face. He isn't my most engaged student. Rather, it is like pulling teeth to get work from him. But he was ready to "do something" today. It brought a grin to my face as well and I wasn't offended at all.
Tomorrow's plan is the same 30 minutes on the graph and 30 minutes taking their brains back!