Well, it's kind of finished. I had a lot of kids who didn't take their APUSH Exam today. I had several kids who had issues submitting their exams. There were some who weren't prepared and then there were some who had issues logging into their exams. But I think my favorite issue was the kid who sent me a message during their second AP Exam of the day to tell me that their computer randomly just shut down during their AP Comp Sci Exam. Ohhhh, it was so ironic...until they said, "I accidentally hit the plug with my foot." The hysterical laughter that burst through my lips was more relief that my exam was over than at their misfortune. Bless their heart. Retakes are at the beginning of June and, after they finish my last "fun/feedback" assignment, we are done for the year. I hope that most will do this assignment because it's personal and not history.
I had a Zoom session for my kids this morning to answer any last minute questions or to give anyone who needed it a last minute pep talk. I wound up getting a fair amount of questions about where they should find their tickets (Why didn't they look for these 48 hours ago when they were issued?!) and how to HIPP documents (provide greater detail about provided documents to further their argument). I was able to calm some fears, provide some laughter, and one girl asked me if I was crying. To be fair, it was overcast so it was kind of shadowy in my living room so I turned the camera so she could see my eyes were just as psychotic as usual and managed to blink back the tears that were starting to form. Excellent observation, dearest!
As the countdown for their test to start got closer and closer to the beginning of the test my anxiety level shot WAY up. I know I'm not alone on this. If we were in a normal school year they would have taken the test a week ago. We would've been able to finish all of the material and prepped for the test much better than we were able to digitally. BUT a lot of my kids showed up. I saw more of them show up for the Zoom prior to the test and submit feedback after the test than I've seen in a while. Kids came out of the woodwork for this test and I am so stinkin' proud of them. And, as I read some of their feedback after the test, I had tears streaming down my face. One of the questions said, "Knowing I will get your exam this year, is there anything I need to know?" and so many of them responded that they wanted me to know that they really tried or that time got away from them or that they weren't super confident but they wanted to make me proud...but the one that KILLED me was the one that said, "Even if I fail I want you to know you prepared us the best you could and I am seriously honored to have been your student." Even now I lack the ability to comprehend how lucky I am to have this group of kids who were so resistant to me at the beginning but damn...look at us now. My heart is full. This last assignment is one where it gives them the chance to give me honest feedback and to open up about what's on their hearts and minds. This has always generated a good response in the past and I'm hoping it will continue this time, even in a pandemic. I hope.
While the kids tested, my APUSH counterpart and I tried not to look at the clock. We spent a long time in a Zoom with a variety of "guests" but at the very end it was just the two of us as we looked at the Google Form we were creating to track feedback from our kids on their exams. It was "real talk" time where I very blatantly told him that I was really unsure if I was going to stay in the first few months, partially due to how he was a very prickly human being at first. I'm not saying I wore him down but I am saying we busted through the barriers that were set up and by January we were a seriously cohesive team. When faced with the potential of not being on the same team next year (nobody really knows at this point) he even said that we have a good, viable relationship here; why should we have to start over. Beginning of the school year me never would've thought we'd be having this conversation but I'd be lying if I said I was looking forward to summertime. It's pretty much the opposite, actually. We're not going to have that connection of daily interaction and I'm seriously going to miss it.
Who knew...I guess he's wormed his way into my heart after all.
Aubs
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