By: Revanche

Proctoring the SATs

November 5, 2007

Highlight: Being stopped on the way to the staging portable by the security guard. *pointing to the left* “The line to take the SATs starts over there.” I couldn’t even stop laughing long enough to answer him, I could only shake my head.

Student highlight: “Are you the teacher for this classroom? Cause it says ‘Mrs. C’ on the door. [So you’re trying to say I LOOK like a Mrs. C? I know that’s not true.] Are you a teacher at this school? No? Are you a college student? No? A high school student? No?” At this point, she paused very seriously as though considering how much lower she should go.

It wasn’t fun, did you know that the SAT now has TEN sections?, but it wasn’t as nerve-wracking as I feared. I managed to keep them under relative control, and had a script to read from so I didn’t freak out when I had to talk to them. I mostly talked at them. But I made it through ok, and this might actually be a worthwhile way of getting over my speaking jitters.

It did help that I only had one cheater-wannabe. My friend had one kid who was trying to use his cell phone during the test, and another who actually brought the SAT practice book for use during the test.

All in all, if we’re being paid approx. $98, we made about $10/hour after taxes since we left at 6:30 am and didn’t get out until 1 pm.