In a little under twelve hours, my grade 12 English class will sit down to write their government diploma exams. As much as I’m sure some of them won’t sleep well tonight, I have been having terrible dreams for a week already. I don’t think many students realize that sometimes the teachers are just as stressed as they are. I truly care about how my kids do tomorrow on their written exam, and next week on the reading comprehension section, and as much as I know they are capable and prepared, my stomach gets all knotted up when I think about it.

I have absolutely no idea what the topic is for the two written responses my kids will have to complete in the morning. The entire thing, understandably, is kept as top-secret as any military operation until after the exam begins. As an extra safe-guard, I am not allowed in the exam room and I will not find out what the topic and prompts are until after the dust has settled. My goal here is not to complain about the protocol: I’m very glad there are many rules in place to prevent academic dishonesty. The strictness of the whole thing is just a little bit daunting for everyone, even the teaching staff.

All I can do is say a little prayer for a workable topic and for prompt texts that my kiddos can be successful with. Believe me when I say I’ve been sending lots and lots of good thoughts into the universe over this.

Tomorrow’s exam is worth 25% of their total grade for the course, and the second part is worth another quarter. As the math whizzes in the crowd have already determined, the final exams are worth 50% of the diploma course. Yikes! Stakes are high. Tensions are high.

And I am out of chocolate.

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