Dear Caden's Parents,
Your son is a genius. Yeah, I'm pretty sure they should give him a job at ODE or maybe as an adviser to Arne Duncan.
We're in class and I'm giving them a pep talk because over the next few days they will be taking their second round of state tests. I tell the class, "Remember it's okay to only do a couple of reading passages at a time and then move on to math. I don't want you to lose focus on the reading, and the test can be long and tedious. So if it starts to feel like blah-blah-blah to you, you could just pause the test and move on to math. It's your choice, but you might want to take it slowly."
Then I go on and ask, "So you know what I mean by blah-blah-blah, right?"
The kids nod and their eyes roll back in their heads as they say, "Oh yeah, Mrs. H., we totally know what you mean."
Somebody says, "Why does the test have to be so blah-blah-blah?"
Another one pipes in, "Why don't they make it interesting like the book we're reading in class." Everybody loudly voices their agreement making my classroom sound more like a Baptist Church than a school room.
I say, "Yeah, that's true. It would be so much better if you had the feeling like you did this morning when you begged me to read another chapter, right?"
Then Caden says (in his most professory voice), "You know, why don't they make the test this way. I think they should give us a list of three really great books to choose from. Then they give us time to read them, and then we go back and the whole test is related to the book we chose."
Everybody in class totally agreed with Caden. They wanted to elect him then and there as President of the State Testing World. I told him that was a great idea, and that if they had put me in charge of the tests, that would be exactly what I'd do because I liked his idea so much. Then I told them that unfortunately, I'm not in charge, so I guess it will have to be blah-blah-blah.
Quite a son you have there.
Sincerely,
Mrs. H.