Keep Your Fingers Crossed!

I've felt that my content area instruction has been my strongest area this year. Thanks to new text adoptions for social studies (last year) and science (this year), I have tons of resources and readable texts. I make graphic organizers (composed while looking at the tests) that we complete as we listen to the audio CDs (is that redundant?) of each lesson. I frequently pause the CDs as we discuss the new information and connect it to previous lessons. I mean, really, I'm doing a bang-up job. And that's why it's been so discouraging that my students, by-and-large, are consistently failing the tests.

Today, though, my class crossed the Rubicon of testing success and actually studied for this test. Nearly half of the class scored an A or B; only 3 students failed. Is this success attributable to the low grades that went home on last week's report cards? Probably so, but also I think it was because after weeks of hearing me say, "Be sure to study your notebook. Your notes are a great study guide for the test," it has finally sunk in. Whatever the reason, I was as happy as I can be while grading the tests. They made me feel successful. I really needed this before I went in front of everyone at the awards assembly and gave my lone honor roll student his award. Sigh.