‘Help me’…the small voice pauses. The child looks at me. ‘I don’t know letters’. Everyone knows that he does not know letters. This is a special class, and yet he too is required to labor through an incomprehensible mess of words and punctuation. I look at his test. ‘It’s okay’ I respond casually. ‘Just draw pictures, okay? You are a good artist’.
He looks down. He picks up his number 2 pencil and with pudgy fingers draws a circle around letter B of the multiple choice question. Then he continues, drawing ears and a face in the circle. He leans back. ‘That’s a cat!’ he states proudly.
‘Yup, I see that. Nice cat. I told you that you were a good artist’.
He continues and I sit back and watch him complete the entire rest of the test in this manner. Every multiple choice question that this little one could not read, decipher nor understand is beautifully decorated in a variety of ways. There is a collection of angry dinosaurs with teeth, another cat emerges and then there are a few shapes I do not recognize. He is very pleased with his efforts.
‘Best test ever’ I think to myself.
I would like to know how many of these 4,000 plus NYSESLAT tests end up with intricate and carefully drawn pictures around the multiple choice letters.
I hope most of them do.
690 Saint Paul 