“As long as there are tests, there will be prayer in schools”

15 days left. I would dare say that the last month of school is the most difficult time of the school year. For teachers and students. It's difficult for me because there is so much that is expected to be done: grades, testing, last minute lessons, parties, dunk tanks, etc. For my students: testing, make-up assignments, behavior issues, summer anxiety, etc.

My poor students. Poor me. We started our end-of-year testing last week. We did the science test on the computers last week. This is always a stressful time for me. I walk around the classroom and secretly read my students' answers. Surprisingly, some of my students did well on the science portion. They were relaxed. I think they were because they are so comfortable with technology. It was like playing on the computer for them.

Today we started the Math and Language Arts portion of the test. This is the part we all remember; #2 lead pencils and rows upon rows of bubbles. They freaked out. And because they freaked out, I freaked out. I taught them how to do shoulder rolls and take deep breaths to relieve stress. I taught them yoga moves with their chairs. I sprayed SMART spray, which is just air freshner spray. That usually works wonders. It hasn't worked.

After I gave the ridiculously long directions and gave them permission to start, I saw a hand go up. Of course my students will remain anonymous, but I wasn't surprised. "Teacher, where is question 1?" "Teacher, where am I supposed to write the answers?" "Teacher, what are we doing?"

Bless their little hearts. As much as I would like to think that all students can do well, they can't. I try to get them to believe in themselves, but who am I joking? I love them and I can pray for them, but there is only so much I can do. Maybe you can pray for them too...