Yesterday we took a HUGE chapter test in math - this chapter is the worst one every year - it covers order of operations, integers, writing algebraic equations, balancing one step equations - too much stuff piled into one but I give the ending test anyway. (Yes, I can think of many reasons not to... but I do)
My policy is if you don’t get at least a 75% the first time, you will redo until you meet that magic mark. Today was reteach/retake day.
Brooke... Brooke is this large, loud, obnoxious young lady from one of "those" families. She does as little as possible in school, reads at a low level, performs low across the board. Brooke's first test score was 34% - typical for her. Today, with her retake Brooke got 91%!!!! She worked so hard, you could almost see the smoke. I asked her, jokingly, "What happened? Did you get smarter over night?" She said, "NOPE... I knew you were going to keep making me redo it til I got it right so I STUDIED last night!" I don’t know who was more excited - Brooke, or me...
Joe... my little Joe who sleeps through almost all day every day. Doesn’t do much of anything anywhere. Joe got 42% first time through. Pretty good for Joe.. not good enough for me. First retake today - he added 20%. I almost just said, "good enough" but no... I gave it back with some more pointers, hints, pushes in the right direction. ANOTHER 18%!!
I love my job.. I love my job.. I love my kids... I love my kids....what a WONDERFUL way to head off to a weekend!