Slice of Life Challenge Day 8
Note: I have the honor to and permission of the student to share part of his story.
“So far, I am not on speaking terms with my uncle after he snapped off at my mom and called her a bitch. I don’t have any respect for him after…My dad texted me about one of his friends sons and how he’s in this soccer academy. I was angry because he told me that. I’m better than him but he never came to one of my games when I play my mom is proud of me because I am on track to graduate.”
I read this annotation from one of my seniors today. I am catching up on assessing student annotations from our shared reading text, The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedeo. (Note: if you have not read this, even if you are not a fan of poetry, please read it). I know, I know…the teacher/reader in you may be thinking, “What does this reader response have to do with the actual text?” Nothing.
Seniors in our state, and maybe yours, are in that last stretch of trying to get graduation requirements met. If you are at-risk for not graduating, that probably means that your life in school at this point revolves around “make up tests,” a few of which I am listing here for your reading pleasure:
Algebra 1 EOC Retake
PERT Test: State Board of Ed just decided to allow this assessment, which more kids can pass, for just this year…I mean we have been in a pandemic for a minute, right?
FSA Retake: this is a 3 day assessment; seniors at this point may have already attempted this assessment up to 5 times since 9th grade; if you miss one of the 3 days of testing and do not make it up, your other 2 days of testing are null and void.
NCR ACT: this is the 2nd-3rd endeavor for many seniors; this test offers additional time irregardless of a 504 or IEP; hence, it is non-college reporting.
WIDA: This is a 3 day assessment for ESOL students; almost all of my ESOL students take this in addition to the assessments listed above.
I have noticed in the last few weeks that my students, especially my seniors, are looking super stressed. This leads to some shutting down and not submitting anything, even when assignments may be totally doable. So, I offered them an annotation alternative that week: just tell me what is happening in your life…what is stressing you out? what are you afraid of?” As a result, I got a decent number of annotations submitted, and as I read them, I am learning quite a bit about my some of my students.
But back to my senior’s annotation at the start: this student is usually the first or second to arrive in class. I noted that he had moved from sitting at the front of the row with his head up and participating, a feat for many humans during the last period of the day, to the back seat and putting his head down to sleep. I quietly checked in with him about my observations. He told me that he shared a room with his schizophreniac uncle who stays up most of the night, so he doesn’t get much sleep. I thanked him for sharing this with me and told him to put his head down whenever he needed to sleep.