First Disaster!

I've been student teaching for a few weeks now, but I just experienced my first crisis! I was asked to draft a test to determine how prepared my students were for the upcoming semester. I based the questions on clearly defined state standards, worked on excellent multiple-choice answers and got an enthusiastic response from my mentor teacher. I passed the test out, waited for the students to finish and giddily anticipated grading my first real creation as a teacher.

The result: disaster!

My students scored an average of 27%, slightly higher than absolute guessing on every question. The test had completely failed to test anyone's prior knowledge, as they could have acheived the same result by marking each question "A."

Disheartened, I reasoned that the students were simply woefully prepared for the coming semester. After all, the teacher had thoroughly approved the test and I had no problem with any of the questions. To test this hypothesis, I gave a copy of the test to my girlfriend, a college graduate with a Biology degree from the University of Michigan. She proceeded to answer 33% of the questions correctly. It was only then that I realized that I had made a mistake that should have been obviously detected: I had assumed that the students' content knowledge matched my own. The next prior knowledge test I draft will feature a much wider range of difficulty in the questions in order to properly assess my students' knowledge.

Second Day Notes

I've just arrived in Ann Arbor after spending the morning attending meetings at Western International. I fear that the constant commuting from Livonia to Detroit to Ann Arbor is going to drive me crazy at least once this year, but it's certainly been manageable thus far.

Some notes:
The amount of work required of teachers before the school year starts seems absolutely massive. I've carried hundreds of textbooks, cleaned the classroom and my mentor teacher even repaired a desk with an electric drill! This is not even considering the actual preparation for teaching our students, who will be expecting a pristine classroom and a prepared teacher by next Tuesday.

I have also gotten an overwhelmingly positive welcome from my fellow teachers. I initially worried that some teachers might treat me a bit like a student (as I doubt I look much older than many of their students...), but they have welcomed me into their group and are sure to be a constant source of advice and support throughout the year.

I'm guessing that my Day 3 notes will be a touch less interesting, as we seem to be rolling into the Labor Day holiday on a wave of paperwork, but I'll post posting regardless!