No. 2

 Well folks, it's finally here. Covid has hit our tiny Kansas town with a overwhelming blow and things are not looking good. Not only the fear of catching this virus is hard, but the fear of the unknown-yet again! I'm worried the kids will have to stay home from school, which means I'll possibly have to quit my job because we don't have childcare, etc etc....This last week hasn't been good, at all.

But alas, I'm closing in on the final days of my final semester at KState! Even though I'm a distance student, I still do some of the traditional school things each year. One of my absolute favorite things takes place around the end of July, when all the stores start to put out the school supplies. I won't ever forget the first time my now husband went Back to School Shopping with me. I explained to him that one of my favorite smells in the world was a fresh, brand-new No. 2 pencil right out of the box. Maybe it's my background in teaching, but gosh-there isn't much that beats that smell for me!

Still, this exciting moment has been lost on my children and future generations, thanks to technological advancements. Lucky for them, they are able to experience different things that I never did as a child! Every Spring there was one thing I couldn't stand, and that was Standardized Testing week. While I was very excited to get one of those brand new pencils to use each day, I absolutely hated filling in those answer choices just perfectly and getting lectured on how to NOT 'doodle' on my answer sheet. As an adult, and parent now, I have very mixed feels on standardized tests and how we are evaluating our children and their educational needs.

I do understand that we need to have a base line for our educators and students, to know where we need to focus extra attention or to see where we are lacking, and this is important in any setting. Of course, we need to work on finding areas to improve but why do I not like these types of evaluations? Because more often than not the focus falls on the negative. There will always be things that can be better, but we should work more on encouraging and empowering our children to do their best-and celebrate those achievements! I also fall under the category of people who suffer from tremendous test anxiety. I'm nearly a straight A student, but can study for hours upon hours and STILL not do well on a test. I just can't do it. For this reason, and so many others, I think that multiple areas should be considered when evaluating our students, or anything in that matter.

Throughout my time working with parents, I have found the same to be true. Nobody in their natural state wants to here about something they aren't good at. We all want to be praised and encouraged! So yes, it is important to provide education and information to others, but we should also place just as much emphasis on the GOOD that comes as a result to these evaluations. Any accomplishment, no matter how big or small, is just that-an accomplishment!

So while my kids might not understand why I sniff an eraser when it comes out of the box, surely they will understand the importance of their testing at school, regardless if it is completed on pencil and paper or a touchscreen!