I have been in a lot of
classrooms and have worked with teachers in small groups as schools are
beginning to gear up for the April NYS ELA test. These are a few of my observations...
- Anxious children, twisting hair and tapping pencils on their desks as they write short and extended responses and do multiple choice questions;
- A teacher unknowingly raising student anxiety as she keeps assuring the students to do their best and that will be good enough;
- Teachers crying because of the anxiety they are feeling about multiple changes and feeling a lack of success because of their lack of focus;
- Good teachers fearful for their jobs;
- Principals pushing easy answers so that children can do well on a test.
Now, of course, this is
not true for all teachers and all principals—I can also easily name confident
and supportive educators, choosing good instruction and a community environment
that supports the whole child as a pathway toward the April test day. But, I am seeing more and more teachers and
students feeling on edge and anxious because of the test. Does this level of anxiety promote success?
I remember when I was in
graduate school. It was my first and
intro class to Reading Theory. We had a
final exam and for weeks before the exam, the professor emphasized the
importance of this exam and how it would contribute to our success in graduate
school as we prepared to be literacy specialists. She raised our levels of anxiety and awareness with these weekly reminders. I studied and
have always been an excellent student. I
knew the materials and I was a good writer.
The test was timed and the questions covered the scope of our semester
class and the books that supported the class.
I prepared nightly to succeed on the test. And each day I got a little bit more
anxious. I started to believe that I
wouldn’t succeed. By the day of the test
I was a mess. I wasn’t sleeping at night
and when I was awake, I would study some more.
I felt that the outcome of this one test would affect the career I was
so anxiously embracing.
On the day of the test, I
went to school ready but tired. Knowing
the material but anxious about my ability to show my knowledge. I got my exam and looked at the questions and
began to race through the test to finish.
I would get to a question I knew and I couldn’t express the concepts
that I had labored over to understand. I
would be asked a factual question—facts that were stored in my brain—and I
couldn’t recall them. I froze. And I failed.
After the test the
professor met with me because I had been, throughout the rest of the semester, one of her
top students. She wanted to know what
happened. I told her and she allowed me
to take the exam again, in a different circumstance for which I got an A. This event is a pivotal moment in my learning
and understanding of what happens when we try to perform with anxiety.
I have taken this
learning with me as I became an educator.
As a teacher I worked to buffer my students from anxiety so they
could perform in an optimal way. I did
yoga with them. I created many moments of celebration. I played videos for them
showing what great learners they were.
And I told them how proud I was of them as they worked to perform their
best--doing this throughout the year, not separate for a four week test preparation. This stance, coupled with good
instruction that allowed the students to know how to write and read, allowed
students to show what they knew.
Regie Routman wrote a blog article last year entitled To Raise Achievement Let's Celebrate Teachers before We Evaluate Them. As a principal, I always viewed myself as a
buffer to teachers. I worked to lower
their anxiety because I knew that if they were anxious, it would often transfer
to student anxiety. I did this by
creating celebrations of what we were doing well. And
now, as a staff developer, there are moments that I feel a bit more of a
counselor and a cheerleader of all of the good that is being done. Celebrations help.
We want our students to
succeed. Anxiety isn’t the way to
success. Celebrations help create success Let’s celebrate our successes
on the pathway to success! This is good for adults and children alike.
