Testing, Testing, Testing
Gratitude 1/29/2026
I am grateful for the gift of a new day.
My heart is filled with gratitude for the many blessings I have.
I will appreciate the small joys and express my thanks in all circumstances.
Let my attitude of gratitude bring joy to others.
I am grateful for what evaluations reveal about us.
Everyone is familiar with tests in school. There are spelling tests, math tests, science tests… every subject. These tests are designed to evaluate a student’s knowledge about a subject. Along with nighmares about being on stage and not remembering the lines of the play I am in, many people have nightmares about tests that they have not prepared for.
Good students have usually studied and are prepared for a test. Sometimes smart students can “wing” it and get a passing score without studying. But a good test really does reveal what I know or don’t know about a subject. If I don’t do well, I can study up and address my lack or knowledge or weaknesses.
I always did pretty well in school, and coming from a long line of teachers, I used to play act that I was a teacher myself. But my first real experience teaching was grueling. Like most new teachers I know I was prepared to plan lessons and grade student work. But there was nothing that prepared me for disciplining the class.
My first real teaching job was as in a rural school, as an 8th grade English/literature long-term substitute. I was filling in for an older teacher who had had a heart attack right before Christmas break. I started sometime in January after several other substitutes had had enough. I was so happy to get this job because I really needed the money.
Back in 1977, the pay for substitutes started out at about $25 a day. Every week I was there, my pay increased a few dollars, as long as I didn’t miss a day. Otherwise, it would go back to the starting salary.
As a young freshly minted teacher, right out of college, I thought I was “with it” enough to smoothly navigate through each day. I would develop good relationships with the kids. They would like me, as I had liked my teachers, and I would enjoy teaching them, and they would all love learning.
It wasn’t long before I was “tested.” Some kids would not do their work and didn’t seem to care whether or not I was unhappy or they got failing grades. Others clearly hated me and constantly accused me of “being unfair.” A group of boys channeled the Little Rascals and everytime they saw me, would wave and shout, even across the school yard, “Hi ya Crabby!” It was long before SpongeBob Squarepants and I didn’t find it funny or endearing.
The only solice I had was that another long-term sub, the art teacher had even less control than I did. Students literally climbed out of her classroom windows and ran off.
It was around the time Pink Floyd came out with Another Brick in the Wall, “We Don’t Need No Education.” And that was a constant theme. It was a nightmare for me.
The last day of the year, I couldn’t find my gradebook. The school secretary brought it to me at the end of the day after the kids had gone home. It had been discovered in the upstairs boy’s bathroom in a toilet.
I was devastated and sobbed. It turned out that very day I had an interview with the Superintendent of Schools for a full time job at the middle school.
That summer I took a course at Ohio State with Dr. William Wayson on “Discipline.” It was life changing. He maintained that a teacher (or parent) did not need a thousand rules. Just one. But that one had to be enforced consistently.
Being inconsistent is really, really hard on kids. Kids who are the most insecure have the most difficulty because they are looking to others to set the boundaries. The less consistent others are, the more troubled kids are going to test to see how far they can go before people crack. Some kids find great satisfaction in making a teacher or parent absolutely lose control. If kids know that someone is consistent, they are so much more comfortable and confident. That’s why even older “uncool” teachers are loved.
We think we are consistent, but it is so easy to see that we are easily inconsistent with our own children, our pets, and so many other times. My dog. Nelly, begs for food while we are eating. She wolfs down her food and then we give her canned green beans, and then she looks for more. I can ignore her, but my husband gets up and gets her something else. At last he gives her a Brushing Chew and then no more. She doesn’t bug him after that, because with that rule, he is consistent.
In addition to school tests, I realize I am tested every single day on a whole host of things.
Personal Tests. Everyday decisions such as managing time and dealing with conflict with other people, including my own family members, are daily tests. How will I deal with my own or other people’s physical and emotional ups and downs? Will I be patient, sympathetic, and kind, provide tough love, ignore the situation, or do something else?
Professional Tests. These include other people’s expectations, time pressures, and obstacles. How will I cope with deadlines, unexpected problems, and people who are happy or dissatisfied with me?
Moral Tests. These have to do with ethical questions that test our values and principles, our integrity. What will I do, if I or others are treated unfairly? Will I let it go and avoid any more encounters, which might just encourge more mistreatment? Or will I stand up and express my disapproval and do something to make things change?
Tests make life really difficult. It’s rarely as simple as getting a passing or failing grade. At times I have had the urge to come home, curl up in a ball, and go to sleep, to avoid difficult tests. And oftentimes things are not as good or bad as I think. I love Robert Frost’s poem about life. Life is going to go on whether we make mistakes or not, whether we do or don’t do the right thing, whether or not we are consistent, whether we succeed or fail.
I am grateful for the opportunities I have to evaluate myself, as painful at it might sometimes be.