She Lived to Tell the Story

TLN member and middle school reading specialist Cindi Rigsbee calls her personal blog “The Dream Teacher.” Here’s a snippet from her recent entry about testing week:

Testing is over, at least most of it. We still have makeups and some special tests to give, but for the most part we have lived to tell the story. That's what I'm going to attempt to do...tell the story...but so much of it is indescribable. And some of it is "you had to be there" while other parts are "you won't believe me anyway."

During Cindi’s Wednesday administration of the reading test:

I looked in the direction of her nod and saw something metal...a screw? a nail? a tack? It took several seconds to figure it out. It was an eyebrow ring, well, not a ring, but a stud. This student had pulled the thing out of her eyebrow and left a flaming red, oozing, wound. She continued to test while I tried to decide if the constant crying and dabbing were interfering with her testing (or anyone else's.)

And her Thursday administration of the science test:

I passed out the materials, snuggled into my reading chair and read the first question. Immediately, I heard screaming eighth graders. I didn't know what they were screaming; I just knew something was wrong. I looked for anything unusual - a bee in the room or aliens landing on the football field, but finally I was able to tune into their voices, and I realized they all were screaming, "That's the wrong question!!!" … I called the authorities (who'd had quite enough with my room) and asked for backup - or the right test.

Still later in the day:

I heard the principal come across the walkie talkie frantically repeating, "Everyone stay in the building." I translated this statement to "We are executing a lockdown!"

As Blogboard noted, “You gotta read it.”