Achievements {Life in a Random Word, Installment 2}
There's a good reason why I am thinking about the word achievements today: I spent the morning administering achievement tests to a group of six fifth-graders in our church basement, and I plan to do the same tomorrow!
Achievement tests are meant to be a standardized way of checking up on our children's progress in some basic functions like reading, language, math and spelling, and yet, sometimes I wonder just how accurate they can really be as there are just so many variable here, including each child's aptitude with test-taking, their reading comprehension, and the curriculum they've been exposed to.
We all know how futile it is to put children and their learning abilities into boxes, and yet, achievement tests do bring out some very interesting patterns, and since I had all of these children two years ago when they took their third-grade tests, it's fascinating to ignore the variables for a moment and to see different patterns emerging even as we're looking through the same lens!
Invariably, all of these thoughts of tests and who does well and who doesn't get me to thinking about schooling and achievements in general, and it led me to a question: what would an achievement test for my life look like?
If there would be a standardized test for "wife/mother/teacher/homemaker" that I could sit down to, how would it measure my achievements against others in the same grade as me?
Would the fact that I occasionally sleep past nine on a Saturday morning count against me?
How about the fact that it's been over a month since I dusted my living room or that my mantle still boasts a snow-scene picture and a garland of Christmas lights?
Maybe I would be found wanting on the level of patience I expend toward my children, but be able to pull ahead just a bit on the merit of how often I read aloud to my children?
Is the fact that I occasionally serve nitrated hot dogs a good thing because it means I can keep life simple or a bad thing because they are so desperately unhealthy?
Does the white sugar and flour lurking in my cupboard make me average?
Where would I fall on the charts when it comes to submission?
Does a good wife occasionally write until one in the morning and then creep into bed hours after her husband and hope he doesn't notice?
Sometimes, quite frankly, I just wonder how I am doing...
Am I on my grade level? Pulling a steady average? Am I rising above average in a smug little mountain on the graph...or so pitifully low that I really need to hide my paper before anyone sees it?
Oh, yes...suddenly I remember the variables!!!
The test may not know it, but things like this matter: size of family, children with special needs, a husbands priorities, students in high school vs. students just leaning to read, health issues, pregnancy... and they demand that I put away the standardized test in favor of the the one true standard:
Have I pleased God?
If I can answer in the affirmative to that one question, then I have achieved all I need to today, and all the other voices can slink away into the shadows.
And if not?
Well, unlike my row of dutiful fifth graders, I get to take the test again tomorrow, for the Lord's mercies are new every morning.
Great is Thy faithfulness.
Achievement tests are meant to be a standardized way of checking up on our children's progress in some basic functions like reading, language, math and spelling, and yet, sometimes I wonder just how accurate they can really be as there are just so many variable here, including each child's aptitude with test-taking, their reading comprehension, and the curriculum they've been exposed to.
We all know how futile it is to put children and their learning abilities into boxes, and yet, achievement tests do bring out some very interesting patterns, and since I had all of these children two years ago when they took their third-grade tests, it's fascinating to ignore the variables for a moment and to see different patterns emerging even as we're looking through the same lens!
Invariably, all of these thoughts of tests and who does well and who doesn't get me to thinking about schooling and achievements in general, and it led me to a question: what would an achievement test for my life look like?
If there would be a standardized test for "wife/mother/teacher/homemaker" that I could sit down to, how would it measure my achievements against others in the same grade as me?
Would the fact that I occasionally sleep past nine on a Saturday morning count against me?
How about the fact that it's been over a month since I dusted my living room or that my mantle still boasts a snow-scene picture and a garland of Christmas lights?
Maybe I would be found wanting on the level of patience I expend toward my children, but be able to pull ahead just a bit on the merit of how often I read aloud to my children?
Is the fact that I occasionally serve nitrated hot dogs a good thing because it means I can keep life simple or a bad thing because they are so desperately unhealthy?
Does the white sugar and flour lurking in my cupboard make me average?
Where would I fall on the charts when it comes to submission?
Does a good wife occasionally write until one in the morning and then creep into bed hours after her husband and hope he doesn't notice?
Sometimes, quite frankly, I just wonder how I am doing...
Am I on my grade level? Pulling a steady average? Am I rising above average in a smug little mountain on the graph...or so pitifully low that I really need to hide my paper before anyone sees it?
Oh, yes...suddenly I remember the variables!!!
The test may not know it, but things like this matter: size of family, children with special needs, a husbands priorities, students in high school vs. students just leaning to read, health issues, pregnancy... and they demand that I put away the standardized test in favor of the the one true standard:
Have I pleased God?
If I can answer in the affirmative to that one question, then I have achieved all I need to today, and all the other voices can slink away into the shadows.
And if not?
Well, unlike my row of dutiful fifth graders, I get to take the test again tomorrow, for the Lord's mercies are new every morning.
Great is Thy faithfulness.
If this was one of those times that you wrote until 1 in the morning - I thank you for sacrificing your sleep. You had some thought provoking questions - and the perfect ending. Thanks for bringing back to what truly matters.
ReplyDeleteAnd when I read posts like this, I wish you were sharing them with a larger audience. Have you ever submitted any of your writing to some place like Keepers At Home?
Gina