A pleasant surprise

The last two days, my students have been taking the French "Benchmark" test...which is just our school district's standardized test. So, it's the only assessment that judges my students and my teaching that I don't write myself. (Of course, I still grade it...but it's a start). It has a speaking, writing and multiple choice section, which includes listening, reading and grammar. So, it's a pretty comprehensive test, and I feel like it's a fair judgment of their understanding. (As in opposition to the TAKS test, which most teachers cry and moan about because it has little to do with what they want to teach but don't get to because of TAKS.)

All that said, I was telling Casey yesterday that I would rather get an enema than grade their writing. But I did most of it anyway...and was pleasantly surprised, especially with my French 1 students. Some of the kid's writing was so good I wondered if the kids had copied off of the test (but there wasn't anything for them to copy off of) and I didn't give them the prompts ahead of time (unlike some sp****h teachers) and did a very general review. So, my students actually learned to write with some skill...in French...in 22 weeks. I suppose, if you're not a language teacher that may not seem significant...but for me, that's a Rocky-theme-playing-in-the-background moment.

I'll try to enjoy it while it lasts. That and there was cake today at lunch. It was a good day.