Pamela Wheaton Shorr is a middle school teacher in Salem and a professional writer…She has recently become an avid Boston Bruins fan and the proud owner(wearer) of a #37 jersey…
It’s March Madness in Massachusetts – and as any public school teacher knows, that has nothing to do with basketball and everything to do with the start of this year’s standardized testing. In cities across the Bay State, teachers are busy reviewing tricky MCAS vocabulary, deconstructing questioning syntax that could trip up understanding, and reminding kids of strategies for answering multi-part open response questions. But mainly, we’re talking about what to do when faced with the dreaded Long Comp, an untimed writing exam meant to ferret out whether a kid is able to write thoughtful, carefully crafted pieces in response to a specific writing ‘prompt’. Easy – or at least manageable – for students with strong language skills, the test can be agony for any child who struggles with writing, organizing thoughts, thinking critically about a topic, or even talking about him or herself.
The Long Comp writing test is administered in 4th, 7th and 10th grades and consists of two untimed sessions that can literally take some students all day to complete. Students respond to a prompt that is meant to get their creative and intellectual juices flowing. Example: “Think of a skill that you would like to or have learned outside of school. In a well-developed essay, describe the skill and explain why it is interesting and important to you.” All you need to do is imagine a tongue-tied, insecure seventh grader getting this idea starter, and you get an idea of the problem. During practice writing sessions, this is what we hear: “I don’t HAVE any skills!” “I don’t DO anything outside of school!” “Skateboarding isn’t a ‘skill’!” “I don’t know WHY I like it!”
The number of steps it takes to break this prompt into something doable is extraordinary, and it’s part of the reason students panic during writing exams. Students have got to think about the definition of a ‘skill’ – does that include cooking? Reading? They’ve got to analyze whether they have any skills – not easy for a kid who feels unsure of him or herself. What if they don’t have any enrichment outside of school – does it count if they’re in an acting club during school hours? What if they don’t really know much about this skill, but it looks fun? What are they going to say about it? And most importantly for a middle schooler – what kind of exposure are they willing to risk? Isn’t it bragging to say they’re skilled at acting? Do they really want anyone to know about their innermost hopes and dreams?
Getting a ‘6’, the highest mark for topic development, requires “rich topic/idea development; careful and/or subtle organization; and effective/rich use of language”, according to the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. Teachers will gripe that to get a 6, a kid has to be attending Harvard Extension School on the weekend and fluent in six languages…and don’t even get us started on the philosophy and ‘authenticity’ behind writing to a prompt! The 2010 4th grade Long Comp prompt on the joys of having a day off from school (aka ‘a snow day’) caused a furor at the time – as many students had never experienced one and had no idea what to write!
What to do to help our kids get through a day that requires stamina, vision and finesse? We’re a sports town, after all. The first round of the NCAA playoffs may be starting this week, the Red Sox may be strutting their stuff at spring training, and the Patriots may be restocking for next year, but in my heart, there’s only one Boston team – and one Boston sports star – to guide my kids through the Long Comp. Patrice Bergeron and the Big Bad Bruins.
It’s hard not to get inspired by a guy who refuses to leave the ice during a critical playoff game, even though he’s got a punctured lung. I tell my kids that Bergeron played through the 2013 Stanley Cup Finals with a separated shoulder, a broken rib, torn cartilage and, eventually, a punctured lung. The only thing lower than some of my students’ interest in writing a ‘well developed’ essay is their stamina to do so. But with the help of Bergeron’s unflinching stick-to-it-iveness, I can make the point to well, suck it up. Still whining? I throw in Greg ‘Soupie’ Campbell’s choice to stay on the ice and help kill off a penalty after breaking his leg, and for good measure, I mention honorary ex-Bruin Rich Peverley, who literally died on the bench and asked to return to the game after being resuscitated. Now pick up the pencil, children!
Maybe you can’t figure out what skill to write about, and maybe you aren’t even sure whether you have a skill, I say. But you have to start somewhere, and what’s more, you’ve got to play the position you’re given. Though Patrice Bergeron was called up for this year’s Canadian Olympic team, his position kept getting shifted around. Instead of getting flustered, Bergeron’s response was simple. “Whatever it takes, right? I’m just happy to be here…Whether it’s the right side, the left side, it doesn’t matter to me,” he told an NBC reporter. (Source: http://nesn.com/2014/02/patrice-bergeron-excels-in-canadas-somewhat-sloppy-olympic-opener/) And by the end of the Olympics, Bergeron was being hailed as the “best all-around player in hockey” and the “greatest defensive forward in the world” – something that sports fans in Boston already know firsthand.
By far my favorite story about Patrice Bergeron starts way before he became a Bruin, and it’s key for the kids who think they just can’t do it, no matter what their Nike T-shirts tell them. It’s a story I read online, and if it isn’t true, please don’t tell me or my students. Sometimes, I say, you just have to wait it out. You need to study the game. You get that Long Comp prompt and you’ve got nothing? Just breathe. According to this story, Bergeron’s father took his son to a rink when he was about five to introduce him to Canada’s national sport. Bergy sat in the net and didn’t move – for two months. While his parents contemplated introducing young Patrice to a different sport, Bergeron was simply watching and absorbing, learning the ice, and, according to his dad, falling in love with the game. And when the boy finally got moving, he was one of the best skaters on the ice.
I have no idea if the story of Patrice Bergeron does my kids a bit of good, whether his basic humility and willingness to do what’s required, his stamina and ability to look at the whole ice and respond accordingly is a lesson to anyone but me. I am not really a sports fanatic, but ever since this New Jersey girl discovered Bobby Orr and fell in love with the Bruins, I have been searching for the next Bobby. In Patrice Bergeron, I think I’ve found him.
I have no idea if the story does my students any good, but I know what Patrice Bergeron has taught me. Bergeron’s stamina, work ethic, imagination, humility, and just plain ‘gumption’ reminds me that even in the midst of MCAS Madness, I have one and only one job. It’s up to me to keep skating as hard and fast as I can for my ‘team’ – the students in my classroom. It’s my job to find the open man, to make holes for the players who aren’t open, to feed my students the puck so that they can score, to cheer when they take their victory laps, to bump fists and get back to it. The ‘best all-around player in hockey’ offers some lessons that cannot be lost on teachers, either. And, you know, he’d make a pretty good Long Comp prompt.
Pamela Wheaton Shorr
