I Hate Exam Week

I really do. I teach in a middle school. For some reason, the powers that be, have decided making middle school students sit for 2.5 hour blocks for exams all week is a great thing. Let me tell you about exams with 6th grade students who are probably below level in most classes (including mine!) or just at grade level and a 2.5 hour block! It's called torture for both teacher and students. There is just no way on earth they can last that long. They make me insane and I just don't have the patience for it. Most days 47 minutes of class time is enough. Almost triple that (did I do the math right?) and you're asking for trouble!

Then there's the added pressure in middle school to grade exams. Now, granted, I know that tests/exams, any assessment for that matter, needs to be graded. Unlike the high school teachers, however, middle school teachers DO NOT HAVE THE REST OF THE DAY TO GRADE! This is probably THE biggest pet peeve of mine. They expect us to give exams, but our students are with us ALL FLIPPING DAY! We have 2 exam blocks of 2.5 hours each and then 2 shortened 30 minute periods plus a lunch period that is also a half an hour. Oh, and then we have to proctor for teachers giving exams during our "off" exam blocks. Nice. Ya, lots of stress going on. I just despise exam week for that reason alone. It sucks. Oh well. Unfortunately, I do not make the rules. I just gripe about them.

In other news, I made it to the gym again tonight. Did a half an hour on the treadmill and then used the weight machines for my quads, inner and outer thighs and hamstrings. By then I'd run out of time and needed to go pick up the kids from daycare. I'll be attacking the upper body next time, probably on Friday. Oh, and I travelled 1.23 miles tonight. Not too shabby for day 2. ;)