Coming Distractions

I know that in some corners we have just turned the page on calendars and we look forward to a fresh new year. Here in Scholasticland, we have reached the nominal halfway point, and we are turning the corner around which we will find more standardized tests. (derisive cheers and applause here) This is the time of our year during which we begin to talk about expectations and standards and strategies. This is the time of year when we try and coax the best performances out of our students.
And we try to convince them that it is tantamount for them to succeed where others before them have failed. We attempt to cajole them out of their mild interest and concern for their achievements and turn them into something that they have not been up until now: Test Takers.
The very clear and distinct challenge here is trying to get a group of kids whose regular response to most any task is, "Is this good enough?" or "Can I be done now?" and turn them into beasts of the standardized test. This will be A) a challenge B) a struggle C) more important to us than them D) all of the above. If you saw that last choice and saw it as the best option, then someone before me has worked some of the magic on you. Read all the possible answers before simply checking one, even if (and I say this with all the conviction I can muster) it messes with the pretty pattern that you had begun to assemble.
It will be difficult to try and negotiate the relative importance of The Big Test compared to all the Pretty Big Tests they have taken thus far. A great many of our students fall apart or become enraged when they disagree with the outcome of a four square game at recess. Suddenly we are going to ramp up the tension by expecting them to stay in their seats for hours at a time as questions that will be far beyond many of their capacities are run in front of them while we coax them through with encouraging words. Words like, "Pick the one that makes the most sense." "Eliminate the wrong answers, then choose from the ones that seem more likely to be correct." On top of that, we live in a world where standards have been ratcheted up to the point where simply choosing A, B, C or D is not enough. They will be asked to write a short dissertation answering why they chose that answer. We know ahead of time which of our kids will be pining mightily for the word searches that await successful completion of the test.
But we also know that if we start now, there may be a few students interested in showing off how much they have learned. Because they have. We have a lot of very clever kids wandering our halls. We have taught them lots of things. Negotiations continue to see just how successful we will be in getting them to share that knowledge when it comes time to show off.