CRCT CRUNCH TIME

Yes, this week starts the dreaded the CRCT. The two weeks that every elementary student fears from day 1. They knew it was coming, they knew sooner or later it would get here, but the real question is...are they ready? Not only do we as teacher's ask ourselves this questions but over the past few weeks I have overheard students talking with one another questioning their own knowledge, and if it would be good enough. If the actual test weren't stressful enough for them, we have successful managed to completely psych our students out with "cramming." Cramming for math, cramming for reading, cramming every subject and topic that might have the slightest chance of showing up on the test. So just in case our students didn't feel prepared, we have thrown them a years worth of schoolwork at them and probably have done more damage than good. I feel like the kids are already dreading taking the test so why do we feel like we need to bombard them with practice tests? I've seen my students fill out standardized tests before and they do a brilliant job of bubbling the "best" answer. Lets try to tame this stress that our students are facing right now. It is still possible for them to learn but lets try taking their minds and ours off of this test.