Testing, Testing . . .

Hi All!

Last night as I once again tossed and turned searching for the ever elusive sleep, I started thinking about all of the testing I have done in my life. Spelling tests, math tests, government tests, midterms, finals, ACTs, Miller's Analogy Test, teacher certification tests, personality tests, aptitude tests. The list just goes on.

What is up with all of these tests? Are they really a vital part of our society? Do they actually do any good?

For example, in the course of my fifteen years in the classroom I have taken about fifteen different personality/learning style tests in the course of all of my staff trainings. On each of those different tests my personality came out different depending on how I was feeling that day. Was I feeling all warm and fuzzy? Did I want to be left alone? Had I just finished reading something that made me feel intellectual? I also learned very quickly that I could skew the tests to make my results come out the way I wanted them.

If I can do that - how accurate are the darn tests?

I remember one test in particular early in my Texas education days. I was working for a principal who really though I was pretty anti-social and - I guess I was if you consider not wanting to chat about the latest celebrity gossip over lunch anti-social. Anyway, we had an in-service training day and it started out with - you guessed it - a personality test. Surprisingly, I came out as a "blue" personality which meant that I was creative and warm and basically, "fuzzy." I thought my principal was going to flip out when he saw my results!

I walked over to that group of "fuzzy" people thinking "Oh great! Now I get to be with these people all day!" How "fuzzy" was that? I looked longingly over to the group of "green" people who were "loners" and really wanted to join their group. But, that was what the principal would expect so . . . off I went with the "fuzzies."

(Going off on a tangent, I wonder if that had anything to do with the fact that I was in a sorority in college whose nickname was "The Fuzzies!" And if you are anti-sorority, just remember that I went to a very, very small college where basically all social activity was fraternity/sorority related. AND it wasn't one of those air-headed, blond sororities either. We were the smart, ugly ones! Just kidding! Well, sort of!)

Another memorable test was the Miller's Analogy test that I had to take to enroll in graduate school. It was a test where they gave you one hundred incomplete analogies (apple is to tree as grape is to ______) which you got to complete - from the list of choices given. I was a little nervous going into the test. I went to the testing center with one of my friends who was also interesting in going to grad school. We went in and sat down and finished all of the normal pre-test junk. Then, the real fun began.

And I do mean fun! Well, it was fun for ME!

The people who had created this test must have had a good sense of humor because it was full of funny things. Things like the question for number eight had to do with the suffix octo - which means eight. The tenth question had to do with decades - which are groups of ten years. I was having a blast finding all of these little "hidden" connections!

I finished the test and went outside to wait for my friend. I was still chuckling from all of the clever little touches in the test. When my friend came out - she was NOT chuckling and though I was absolutely insane for thinking the test was funny!

I guess I am just weird that way!

Trisha

Voice Update: Okay - frustrating! My voice is still giving me trouble in the morning when I walk. I am being good and doing my exercises and massage and all of that good stuff but . . . I still find myself having a lot of breaks and hesitations in the morning. I wonder if my voice just hasn't woken up yet. I will continue my exercises and massage and see what my therapist thinks today at my appointment.