Kiss My Knits!

Em’s school is doing testing this week. She climbed into the car after school today and we had this conversation.

Em: “I did not do good on my writing test today. I could not think of a time when I was surprised.”
Me: “Oh, is that what you had to write about?”
Em: “Yes. I couldn’t think of a time.”
Me: “Did you try your best?”
Em: “No.”
Me: “Did you try some?”
Em: “Yes.”
Me: “Do you think you can try harder next time?”
Em: “Yes.”
Me: “Well, I’m disappointed to hear that you didn’t try your best. But I’m glad to hear that you’ll try harder next time.”
Em: “I will.”
*pause*
Em: “I do not want to stay in fourth grade next year.”

And that’s when my heart just broke. Poor kid. I’ve put in a note asking her teacher what happened, but my guess is that she got flustered and upset when asked to come up with a specific incident to write about. We try so hard to keep things on an even keel around here, since changes in plan throw her for a loop, that she very well may not have been able to think of a time when she was surprised. She doesn’t do well writing about things from her own life anyway.

She’s learning the material as best she can – her last two report cards have been two C’s, two B’s and an A – but the standardized testing just kills her. Stupid end-of-grade exams. I’m glad we have understanding teachers who look at the whole picture when making their decisions. If we didn’t have such a good team, we’d be sunk.

Edited to add: Em’s teacher says, “We did have a pilot writing test today. (Her special area teacher) said that she did have a problem doing the test. There were some tears shed and she seemed really frustrated. This will not affect her going to the next grade and I’m not sure why she got that idea. You will be happy to hear that we just got her Formative testing scores (Reading, Math) and Emily went up in both subjects.”