Amy Loves Books

As a teacher, I am judged by the score that my students receive on the EOCT (End of Course Test). This is part of the whole No Child Left Behind data-generating-multiple-choice-test "accountability" bullshit that masquerades as a "Commitment To Education" for the fine folks that run for public office.

The standardized tests are evil, but I realize that they are an evil that I just have to suck up and deal with.

As a result, I made sure that I made copies of the study guide for the EOCT that has been published on the Georgia Department of Education website. I also made copies of the Spring 2004 Released EOCT that the Georgia DOE people were kind enough to provide and post on their website. Since the EOCT is next week ( and yes - they give the end of course test 2/3 of the way through the course), my fellow teachers have been handing out the practice tests. I've gotten requests for an answer key - which I don't have - because none was provided with the test.

I've been a little snarky about the requests. I mean, I assume that teachers should know the "correct" answers without a key.

I am ashamed to admit I had not even looked at the darn test until yesterday. When I did, I understood the requests for an answer key.

And, I got mad.

This is an ACTUAL question from the released test:


45Which would be the BEST method for
reading the directions for playing a new
board game?
A skim the directions
B look for a summary or list of key points
C slowly read all of the directions
D read the first few paragraphs only


Okay, so , I'm sorry - but I don't spend a day of ninth grade literature on HOW TO READ THE INSTRUCTIONS FOR BOARD GAMES. I have no idea what the right answer is. I have no idea how to find a textbook that even addresses Board Gaming 101.

Personally, I'd say C - because I'm not good at figuring out new board games and they confuse the hell out of me. Then again, I tend to play complicated games with lots of complex rules. I doubt C is the "real" answer.

It can't be D. That would be just plain stupid.

B seems like a very standardized test-type of answer - BUT - do board games have summaries and key points? I don't think so. Maybe some games do. If they do, "B" would work.

That leaves us with:

A - this might be the right answer. I don't know though. You can't skim the directions for a game like Risk.

This is SO insane. STANDARDIZED HIGH STAKES TESTS SUCK.

And I'm sorry, but if knowing the correct "method" for reading board game instructions decided who is left behind and who is not - then the system, not the kids, needs to get left behind.

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Over dinner with my parents and some of their friends last Friday night, the inevitable question came up: "So Amy, How's school?"

I did not even pause before answering. It will be over soon.


There are many things going on with education and with my own classes that I don't feel right blogging about at the present time. This last quarter has been like going downhill on a really big roller coaster.

That said, I have just a little over four weeks of school left. I few highlights:

The hard drive of my school laptop crashed and I lost EVERYTHING school related. Sucks. To. Be. Me.

The movie project is partially done (since none of my kids own the resources to make movies or do computer stuff at home - it was challenging juggling the three cameras I had access to between sixty-plus kids during school hours - BUT - I DID it! At least part of it. The filming is done).

I'm taking my honors kids to see The Glass Menagerie today. Field trips stress me out. I fear losing children. I don't know why I schedule them.

I've had two kids added to my fourth period in the past week. Without transfer grades. There are less than FIVE weeks of school.

There are rumors that there will be a dress code for faculty next year that will include pantyhose for the women. I really don't know about this. I can deal with chaos and fights at school, but I just don't know that I can get myself up every morning and pull on a pair of pantyhose. Pantyhose are vile.

I got a student-teacher at the last minute. She has been there for two weeks and has the rest of this week to go.

I signed a contract to return next year.

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I saw this list on Kottke and thought it would be interesting to fill out for myself. I find my results rather disturbing. I appear to be some sort of movie-adaptation-book-reading-junkie. I read Jaws? Why did I do that? I think maybe it's that I was afraid to watch the movie at first. And I the only person who has read One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest but has not seen the movie? Why haven't I seen The Godfather?

Supposedly a List of the Top 50 Film Adaptations of All Time
(but why aren't Room With A View and The Shining on this list?)

I adapted the list a bit and noted (when applicable) which version I liked better:
1. [BM] 1984 (did not really like either)
2. [BM] Alice in Wonderland (movie)
3. American Psycho_
4. [BM]Breakfast at Tiffany's (in my opinion, too different to compare)
5. Brighton Rock
6. [B]Catch 22_
7. [BM] Charlie & the Chocolate Factory (movie)
8. [BM] A Clockwork Orange (movie - barely)
9. [B] Close Range (inc Brokeback Mountain)
10. The Day of the Triffids_
11. Devil in a Blue Dress_
12. [BM] Different Seasons (inc The Shawshank Redemption) - (equal)
13. [M] Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (aka Bladerunner)_
14. Doctor Zhivago_
15. [M] Empire of the Sun_
16. [BM] The English Patient_(book)
17. Fight Club_
18. [M]The French Lieutenant's Woman_
19. Get Shorty_
20. The Godfather_
21. [M] Goldfinger_
22. [M]Goodfellas_
23. [BM] Heart of Darkness (aka Apocalypse Now)_(too different to compare)
24. [B] The Hound of the Baskervilles_
25. [BM] Jaws_(equally trashy but enjoyable)
26. [M]The Jungle Book_
27. A Kestrel for a Knave (aka Kes)_
28. [M] LA Confidential_
29. [M] Les Liaisons Dangereuses_
30. [M] Lolita_
31. [BM] Lord of the Flies_(book)
32. The Maltese Falcon_
33. [M]Oliver Twist_
34. [B]One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest_(why haven't I seen this movie?)
35. [M]Orlando
36. [BM] The Outsiders_(movie - because I saw it young and it had pretty boys)
37. [BM] Pride and Prejudice_(equal)
38. [B]The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie_
39. [BM]The Railway Children_(movie)
40. [M]Rebecca_
41. [BM] The Remains of the Day_(equal)
42. [M] Schindler's Ark (aka Schindler's List)_
43. Sin City_
44. The Spy Who Came in From the Cold_
45. [BM] The Talented Mr Ripley_(book by a long, long, long shot)
46. Tess of the D'Urbervilles_
47. Through a Glass Darkly_
48. [BM]To Kill a Mockingbird_(equal)
49. [M] Trainspotting_
50. [M]The Vanishing_
51. Watership Down

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Based on these two studies, I must be part- boy. Nothing on the girl list even made it into my top ten.

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Work has reached a whole new level of crazy. I'll go into details one of these days. In the meantime, here is my favorite moment of today:

Fourth period likes to complain. They don't want to read stories that are boring. They can't behave if a substitute is not nice. They repeat excuses: "This is boring" - "I don't feel like working" - and - most of all - "I don't like that teacher/administrator/substitute". They were using the last excuse to justify behavior outside of my classroom and altercation that a few of them got into with a staff member that has been known, at times, to be difficult to get along with.

Haven't you ever heard the saying that "you catch more flies with honey?" I asked. This is, after all, the south. We say that sort of things round these parts. They looked at me blankly. Flies? What did bugs and honey have to do with anything?

I started to break it down. Flies are annoying, just like annoying people. You can swat at them, but you're just going to get frustrated. You can lay out a dish of vinegar to try to catch them , but they won't go near something bitter and nasty like that. But if you lay out a dish of honey - then the flies will go to the honey and not bother you.

So, I concluded my little life lesson, the best way to deal with a frustrating person is just to be real sweet to them. My students sort of nodded (at least, the ones that were listening did).

About five minutes later, one of my very attention-challenged young men spoke up. This is a kid that I have to constantly work with to get him to do anything. I had assumed that he wasn't listening during the whole flies and honey talk, because, to be honest, I usually have to tap on his desk and put my face right in front of his to get him to focus on what I say.

With a huge smile on his face, and seemingly out of nowhere, he blurted out his epiphany: I MUST REALLY FRUSTRATE YOU MRS. J!!!!!!!!!!!!.

Thinking I'd heard wrong, I asked him to repeat himself.

He kept smiling. He was close to laughing at his own joke now: "I must TOTALLY frustrate you. Like ALL the time."

Okay, so maybe. But I would never tell a kid they frustrate me. I try really hard not to let it show. I think I succeed most of the time. I was a little hurt that he'd think that, well, he was frustrating. I started to protest.

He cut me off. "Mrs. J - You are so sweet and nice to me every day. I must really be frustrating you."

I laughed.

Nah.... I'm just real sweet to everyone, I said.

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