The Irony of "Excellence"

Ok so looking back over the last few months...some of the craziness all stems from having to take this ridiculous test through the ETS Praxis series. One of the many things I have learned up until now is that life is a bunch of hoops. In order to accomplish certain life goals, you have to be willing to jump though them to get where you want to go.

So in order to be able to receive my teacher's certification, I have had to pass numerous test along the way. Praxis 1 is the initial testing where you have to pass a three subject area computer based test. The three areas of study were Mathematics, Writing, and Reading Comprehension. I was so concerned with the Mathematics portion of it. I have never been that great when it came to math and the concept of numbers. The one class I struggled so much with in college was College Algebra and when I got a "C" in the class, I told myself... "AND DONE!!!"

But I made it past this first Praxis hurdle and actually scored higher in the Math portion than I thought I would...

Then on to the Praxis 2 test which is specialized in your field of study. So I took the Theatre test first and then moved on to the Speech Communication test. Each were difficult in their own right. but not unachievable.

Now part of the stress and sleepless nights of this passed semester has been studying and trying to pass the latest round of testing, the PLT, or the Principles of Learning and Teachings, a Praxis test centered around the theories of education. I struggled trying to study this boring information. The voices of theorists stating their dry, brittle, crap in my ears...things I hardly ever use as to how I run my classroom...all the while thinking, "When in the heck would I ever use this in my classroom, knowing full well that this test is not a direct link to how I run a classroom or symbolic of my teaching style."

I basically did something I never encourage my students to do. I memorized and tried to regurgitate all the information, spouting the theories of those theorists and how they related to students in the classrooms all the while telling myself, I just need to pass by one point...one point...one point.

The test was so difficult! It was like running full-force into a brick wall, getting back up, and begging for more. It was 24 multiple choice test questions and 4 case studies, each containing three questions to write essays on. 12 pages of writing and only 2 hours on which to write this test. I finished with 5 minutes to spare, having spare moments to go back over and see just how much I sucked. I tried so hard to include specific theorists and their theories and how they could be incorporated into each of the case study information provided.

Little did I know that I would fail the first round by ONE POINT!!! I was so frustrated. I was disappointed in myself. As I spent some time in reflection as to why I could have failed by ONE POINT, I thought, "Okay, here's the dealio. Maybe I just need to dumb it down, not provide the specific knowledge, and speak from my own voice, and how I would handle the situation." SO I spent the $135 to retake the test and subjected myself back to the brick wall flingage. second time around, I had ten minutes to spare and as I read back through my essays, they were all in my own voice and not very educational sounding at all, in some instances.

Here is the irony: I needed a 164 to pass and instead passed with a 189, achieving a ranking of excellence in the ETS company. Yesterday, I received a certificate of excellence with this score in the mail...stating that I ranked in the top 15% of the ETS testing company nationwide.

I chuckle at the whole irony of it all...Hurdle tackled...Now on the the last round...