Mrs. Wilson stays after school at least 1-2 hours (or more) every school day to do lesson plans, grade papers, and coordinate with other teachers. I stayed after school one day to help her grade some science tests. It took so much longer than I thought it was going to! I found myself losing steam quickly- especially since I had helped throughout the afternoon in the class. She played some relaxing music, and she settled in to add lots of grades into the computer. She had me record the scores for the tests, I put the tests in number order (each student had a number to keep things organized). Mrs. Wilson also had me return some previous assignments back to the students in their cubbies. I learned there is a lot of organization and alphabetizing and coordinating that goes on behind the scenes for teachers.
As for testing, Mrs. Wilson's class had just completed (or tried to complete) the new RISE testing from the State. She explained to me about all the problems they had trying to complete the testing. Mostly due to technical difficulties, she was disappointed and frustrated in the State School Board for moving forward with a test that was not ready to actually access what the students have learned. In the past, Mrs. Wilson's classes have always scored very well on end of year testing, but this year the tests will not be considered at all due to the technical difficulties. The normal unit exams for the various subjects are generally put together by herself and the other teachers based on the Common Core (such as the science test I helped grade). Overall, Mrs. Wilson doesn't have a problem with testing in general, but the feels like it needs to be done in a professional manner in a way that can more closely assess what the students have learned.
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