Pens poised,
Paper rustling.
Begin.
Destiny scratched
into this exam.
Future doors open or close.
You can ruin your life!
.
Don’t stress.
Life is not a straight road.
If an exam slams a door,
wiggle through windows,
force up foundations,
drop down the chimney.
Destiny is carved in determination,
not scratched in this exam.
Video with my narration is in the previous post, but here’s the written version:
.
Measuring
Shawn L. Bird
This is me.
The standardized test says,
“She’s a C.”
But no standardized test
can measure my capacity.
The provincial exam or S A T
does not evaluate my reality.
A test does not see
my creativity
my audacity
my tenacity
my congeniality
No test can reveal
my totality.
They say
a standardized test demands gravity,
but I say,
it is a depravity
to define our youth with such rationality!
This is me.
No standardized test can measure
who I will be.
Here’s a video poem I made for a presentation on issues in standardized testing for my Faculty of Education Master’s class on assessment at University of British Columbia (Okanagan campus) (aka UBC-O).
.
Shawn L. Bird 