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I asked my wife about this situation as she has worked in the front office at a few schools. I think part of my shock is that newer schools are built differently I believe. In Arizona, in almost every school, you can only enter campus by entering the office. All gates and other entrances to campus are locked during the school day. Obviously the fact that it was after school was a huge factor as well.
Yeah, the office is definitely next to the front doors, but you don't walk through it to enter the school (otherwise 1000 kids would march through it every morning when the buses dropped off). Visitors are supposed to turn left when they come in and get a little pink sticker that says "visitor", but theoretically they could get that sticker and then storm off to do whatever they wanted (or obviously ignore the signing in entirely).
At my old school, the front doors were locked after the morning bell rang, and you used your badge to swipe in, or buzzed the office to open the door. This school didn't give us swipe cards though, so they leave the doors open all day for the part time teachers coming/going during the day. Obviously it has some nasty side effects.
How do you handle it when students can't finish your tests? I've been allowing students to stay into the next hour, with permission from their next teacher or, at the latest, immediately after school (I grade what they've done so they're not allowed to change answers) but draw the line at them wanting to finish the next day. If that happens, they get the make up test which is harder......
Oh how things have changed!
Back in the Pleistocene Era, when I was in high school, we all got the same amount of time. You didn't finish, then the questions you didn't answer were counted as wrong answers. <gasp>
Though a good student, I was one of the ones who had difficulty finishing as I had difficulty handwriting. No one gave a big fat fart whether I had a problem handwriting or not - boo hoo! but I did not commit suicide because of it, my self-esteem was not destroyed and I would never have dreamed of whining to my mother about it.
Should I feel like Gloria Gaynor, and stand up and sing "I Will Survive."
The U.S. has become a nation of invertebrates in the past three decades.
I think it may be helpful to direct parents to some sort of resource that talks about students who have trouble completing tests or other work in a decent amount of time. It may be helpful for parents to understand this can happen for a variety of reasons.
My daughter in middle school has had a lot of trouble with this issue, particularly with anything requiring math since technically she has a math LD. She had accommodations for some time. This year though she is trying to get through without any accommodations. Still her teachers sometimes give her extra time.
She works really hard, so I don't think any of her teachers mind helping her out here and there. There are some kids who are challenged in this area, and I don't think it is helpful to just blow them off with a rules are rules attitude if they are trying. Instead it would be more helpful to find ways to help them work through the problem so they can hopefully improve.
I think it may be helpful to direct parents to some sort of resource that talks about students who have trouble completing tests or other work in a decent amount of time. It may be helpful for parents to understand this can happen for a variety of reasons.
My daughter in middle school has had a lot of trouble with this issue, particularly with anything requiring math since technically she has a math LD. She had accommodations for some time. This year though she is trying to get through without any accommodations. Still her teachers sometimes give her extra time.
She works really hard, so I don't think any of her teachers mind helping her out here and there. There are some kids who are challenged in this area, and I don't think it is helpful to just blow them off with a rules are rules attitude if they are trying. Instead it would be more helpful to find ways to help them work through the problem so they can hopefully improve.
I applaud both you and your daughter. Far too many kids and even more so parents, take advantage of any accommodations they can get. This just makes sure the kids learns the least amount possible. I understand the basis of IEP's, but the norm has been for the writers of IEP's to "over accommodate" to make the parents happy. This is the exact opposite of the concept of "least restrictive environment" that is supposed to be exercised in special education.
I applaud both you and your daughter. Far too many kids and even more so parents, take advantage of any accommodations they can get. This just makes sure the kids learns the least amount possible. I understand the basis of IEP's, but the norm has been for the writers of IEP's to "over accommodate" to make the parents happy. This is the exact opposite of the concept of "least restrictive environment" that is supposed to be exercised in special education.
I'm going to agree with you based on some experience that I have had with IEP students. I have about 10 and IMHO only 3 actually need an IEP. The rest have behavior issues.
I'm going to agree with you based on some experience that I have had with IEP students. I have about 10 and IMHO only 3 actually need an IEP. The rest have behavior issues.
IEPs are not just about academics.
Behavior issues can be caused by a disability like autism or even aspergers syndrome or adhd because the child's brain thinks differently.
If they have an IEP with testing accommodations / modifications, I would follow that. Otherwise I would ask my admin how they want to handle the extended time issue.
Back in the Pleistocene Era, when I was in high school, we all got the same amount of time. You didn't finish, then the questions you didn't answer were counted as wrong answers. <gasp>
Though a good student, I was one of the ones who had difficulty finishing as I had difficulty handwriting. No one gave a big fat fart whether I had a problem handwriting or not - boo hoo! but I did not commit suicide because of it, my self-esteem was not destroyed and I would never have dreamed of whining to my mother about it.
Should I feel like Gloria Gaynor, and stand up and sing "I Will Survive."
The U.S. has become a nation of invertebrates in the past three decades.
You should feel that your chlidhood was ruined. You should have ZERO self esteem. Come on now, you can't, POSSIBLY, develop self esteem by learning how to succeed in spite of your issues .
Somewhere along the line we seem to have forgotten that the best way to build self esteem is through accomplishment and I don't mean getting A's. I mean really accomplishing something like learning how to manage in spite of being a slow test taker.
What's the kid going to do in the real world if they don't finish something by a work deadline? Whine to mom if they get fired?
Why management will just add more time to the project at $$$$ cost right ?
Now, imagine an entire team of people who cannot finish their work given a deadline, refuse to work weekends or overtime, and then complain they are "overworked". That, my friend, is the latest crop of new hires at many companies.
I ended mentoring interns, co-ops and new hires at my company about three years ago. Told my manager I didn't want to deal with them (and in some cases their parents) anymore.
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