Testing, testing, 1,2,3...

So I survived Day One of the insanity that is also often referred to as state testing. I woke up this morning nervous and filled with anxiety over the whole thing. I've administered tests like this before, but to a class of kids that are in the same grade and are all taking the same test. This year is different. And crazy. I get to work this morning, and spend the first half hour or so trying to track down the lead from special ed to see what the plan was (I left work Friday with a slight inkling of my responsibilities and which kids I would be testing). She wasn't even sure. We made some room rearrangements, group changes and got settled right about 10 minutes before testing started. Once I had my groups situated and I started reading the cheesy oral directions, I thought all was right as rain. But I underestimated the capabilties of a certain student. He has a very generic IEP (a specific education plan that is written for every child in special ed), but basicially he's considered special ed because of being distracted and having minor behavior issues. Problem is, he feeds on attention. But, it's a Catch-22, because you don't want to ignore him. And this is serious testing, so I couldn't exactly give him any slack. Soooooo, that leads me to the incident. It wasn't anything serious or even close to his highest level of a behavior problem he's capable of, but it still was a problem. It started with him writing 2 sentences for the writing portion. Two sentences. He's in 6th grade. And he has written page-long stories for me in the past, so I know he can do it. So, we battle over that. He eventually writes 2 paragraphs. Later, he decides he wants water 2 minutes after we returned from a water and bathroom break (where had drank enough water to get him through the last hour of testing remaining), so I say no. He gets whiny. Then he wants to sharpen his pencil, even though it doesn't need to be sharpened. Then, he starts doodling all over his booklet, instead of writing. He's asking stupid questions and generally being distracting to the others in the room. The school knows that mom is Super Responsive Mom and that she wants to know his every move, especially if it's the wrong move. So, I threaten that we're gonna go call mom. He doesn't seem to take me seriously. He acts up again, and again I warn him that mom's getting called. He screws around again. So, I hop up and tell him to come with me. "Where are we going?" he asks, as if he doesn't know. "To call your mom," I say, calmly. He suddenly grabs his pencil and starts writing. "I'm working!" he yells, bothering the entire room. I have him follow me out and off we go to the office. He dials mom's number, but then just sits there with the receiver away from his ear. "What do I tell her?" he asks. I eventually get on the phone and inform her of his actions. She quickly states that she's at home and will be there in a minute. I explain the scenario to the vice principal and I go back to my group. Later, after the test is over, I am walking by the office, and I hear mom in there with her son, ripping him a new one. Yikes. She was royally pissed. And I guess the policy (in the teacher's test booklet) states that if a student is disruptive or a behavior problem during the test, they are to stop the test and not be allowed to continue that section. So, he'll only get a partial score for his essay, since he only wrote half of it. It's fair that he can't finish, but unfair that his score will diminish his teacher's class average. I guess we can't all win. Anyways, the end of the story is that he will be testing with another aide for the rest of the week. He needs to babysat, I guess. Fine with me. He's out of my hair. So, the rest of my week should go a lot smoother now. At least I hope so.