By Salina Garcia
All the planning, prepping, drilling, encouragement, tutoring and even bribing, comes to an end on April 4-5 as our campus officially enters testing mode to ensure our eighth graders are provided with the stress free environment they need to pass the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) test.
Working on a middle school campus had been an interesting experience to say the least. Not only are kids full of energy and raging hormones, believe it or not, they also pose the will power, skills and knowledge to take our school to an exemplary testing level, which is more than any teacher/staff member could ever ask for.
On April 4-5, our students will have their chance to shine. Not only that, everything we have worked for all year will be determined by the final scores on this one test. The true question of whether or not we truly did our jobs will finally be revealed. As a future teacher, I too take this test as well as its results very seriously, therefore making the “big day” just as nerve-wracking for me as it shall be for them.
Questions such as whether or not the TAKS test is truly beneficial to our students still linger within the walls of current education classes at TAMU-SA. However, the reality of it all is the simple fact that we unfortunately cannot rid nor change the test anytime soon. Therefore, as educators, it is our job and our duty to teach our students as much knowledge as they can possibly retain, in order to give them a fair and fighting chance to pass the TAKS. I will keep you posted on how we score!
Until next time….stay golden jaggies!
