Quit Stalling, Bonnie, And Go Away

courtesy of Pixabay CC0 Public Domain

We were hoping today might be a sunny day. It’s not. Today’s forecast is for yet more rain and thunderstorms.

Bonnie is at fault for all this gloomy weather. The storm, or its remnants, should have been long gone by now. Instead, it has stalled off the coast and is strengthening. The last report showed the remnants had reformed into a tropical depression with the chance of becoming a Tropical Storm again.

Bad weather isn’t a big problem at this point in the school year. The school athletic year is long over so no games are scheduled that could be delayed. The students haven’t been to Physical Education all week, and it looks like they won’t be going today, so it isn’t the rain keeping them indoors. What is keeping them away from Phys Ed is the seventh day of testing here at our school. It is hard to imagine that we have been in testing mode at some level for seven school days now, but between End-of-Grade Tests, Final Exams, and Career and Technical Testing, it has taken this long to get it all done.

Part of the reason is because of the number of these tests now conducted online. When we have three tests that have to be given online, only 80 computers to give them on, and over 440 students to administer the tests to, it takes longer than giving them all a paper-and-pencil test on the same day.

The result of all this drawn out testing schedule is my students wind up spending much more time with me than they usually do. The first couple of days this week we had the balloon car project to keep the students occupied.

Yesterday I tried showing some severe weather documentaries. They went over like a lead balloon. At this point in the school year the students balk at actually doing something educational. I can’t say as I blame them.

Much like this school year, so close to its end, yet it keeps going on, so Tropical Storm Bonnie keeps churning off our coast and bringing us rain. But the same way Bonnie is slowly pulling away into the ocean, so is this school year coming to a close. After this weekend we’ve got only a day-and-a-half of school left, a few workdays, and then it will be summer break.

As always, I remain,

The Exhausted Educator