Testing and health

This weekend I’m thinking about a number of my students because they will take a nationalized test. The test wearies them, keeps them up for days, and worries them into believing they won’t get their degree. Most won’t pass it. In fact, most will have to take it multiple times.
The students can’t be bothered to do homework, let alone to study for the benefit of it. Americans would reconsider their complaints about their own school system if they spent one week in Chinese schools. Studying and homework is not a part of their culture. (You ight have read my earlier post on preaching to the inmates.) Nevertheless, these students are concerned enough about this test that they buy numerous study guides. They try to sneak extra study time in my classes.
One group of my students asked earlier this week if we could skip the lesson I’d planned to focus on their test. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t initially appalled by the idea. But because I’ve talked with them and practiced with them for weeks for this test, I opted to delay my lesson plan until next week. The focus instead was on writing and vocabulary, the parts of the test that will surely overwhelm them.
Weeks ago I began to research this test. How could I implement practice for the test into my weekly plans? They were not thrilled by practicing during class over the first few weeks. Yet they learned. And their efforts will surely pay off. How glorious I felt when I began to see a marked improvement in their writing and vocabulary!
Over the last school week, for my favorite students, my lesson plan and the course book coincided beautifully. We came to a chapter in the course book on physical and mental health. I rounded out the book work, implementing some yoga and meditation practices, teaching them to pay attention to their breathing, and encouraging them to eat healthily this week to aid their test performance. For two nights before the test I’m thinking about them, meditating for their good performance and confidence, for their health and achievement.
They have, after all, become “my girls”.