As soon as I arrived, I began teaching the quadratics unit (i.e. parabolas). Within a week and a half, I was given the responsibility of writing the unit test for all of the grade 11 classes. Forget about a student writing it, drafting the damn thing from scratch was a long, arduous process.
So, after about ten full hours, many revisions, and several arguments with other teachers in the math department ("This solution is just as good as the other!" "No! It doesn't demonstrate full understanding! And it doesn't factor in...."), I have two final versions of my first full unit test!
"No, you may not write it after March Break."
I thought tonight would be stress-free, not needing to prepare for anything other than my grade 9's. But oddly enough, I find myself a bit anxious.
I'm constantly wondering, "Is it too hard?" "Will they do well?" Not only am I worried for my students sake; they don't all get it, but bless their souls, they give it their all. But a poor test mark from my students, in my opinion, reflects poorly on me; both as a teacher of the principles and as the evaluator. Either I didn't teach it well, my method of evaluation was poor, or a combination of the two.
So, to my kids....and I know some of you may be reading this since some of you clever bunch found me on Facebook; log the hell off of your computer and study!!! For both of our sakes.
Sleep well, and best of luck tomorrow.
