Oxymoronic

I had to volunteer my time
to go to a mandatory meeting today.

This is what
my job is becoming.

We require you to be trained
but you'll have to get
trained on your own time.

Emphasis on the word have.

I used to volunteer extra time willingly.
Back when I felt that the district office
the parents
the media
appreciated what I do.

Now the expectation is
that I shut up
do my job
and listen to my superiors'
almighty wisdom.

Unfortunately for them,
I am over-educated.

I know too much
to sit still
to shut my mouth
to be a puppet.

I grudgingly attended
the mandatory meeting
where I volunteered my time
only to be taught
how to use technology
to further test
my students
who are already
over-tested.

Now the superiors
have decided that we need to
assess students at the end of the year
in addition to
MAP tests in the fall
MTELL tests in late winter
MCAs in the spring
and MAP tests again in the spring.

This testing,
of course,
is in addition to
the assessments
we as teachers
already give our students
in our classrooms
that we use
immediately
to design lessons
that meet our students' needs.

Hmmmm.
That's what I thought
testing was for.

The test data
we get from the state and our district
is reported to teachers
categorically
without specifics...
in an untimely manner....
The data is difficult
to understand
to utilize
to apply
to our individual lessons
and students.

Needless to say,
during the time
I was volunteering
to be trained
to do more testing,
I became a bit,
shall I say,
bitter.

I never thought
I would be a teacher
who would lose my passion.

Good thing I haven't.
The district office
the parents
the media
keep fanning the flames
that keep my passion
for students and teaching
alive.

Just make volunteering
to get rid of excessive testing
mandatory.

You'll have teachers
beating down the door
to be mandatory volunteers.