The first thing we need to do is fill out the answer booklet with all of the students' information: name, age, grade, school, birthday, etc. You'd think ten minutes to fill out the form right? Nope. Forty-five minutes. It's amazing how hard it is for a 4th grader to not only write the letters of their name, but also fill in the bubble underneath that correspond with the same letters. Conversations like the following also lead to a wounded turtle pace:
Luke: "What does 'middle initial mean?"
"It means the first letter of your middle name."
Luke: "Middle name?"
"Yes your middle name. What's your middle name."
Luke: "Ummm. I don't know. I can't remember."
"Some people might not have a middle name. If you don't you can just leave it blank."
Luke: "Wait, I think it's Ronald. Yeah. I'm pretty sure it's Ronald."
"Ok. Then you should put 'R' for your middle initial."
Luke: "But Ronald doesn't fit! There's only one space!"
"Luke..." (stop, breathe) "No just the first letter. All you need is the 'R'."
Luke: "Actually, I'm not sure if it's Ronald. I don't think I have a middle name."
At this point, I really had to bite my tongue. So many things I want to say right now... "Ok. I'll look it up and see if you have a middle name." I look it up. No middle name listed. "Nothing's listed for your middle name Luke. Just leave it blank."
Luke: "No, I'm pretty sure it's Ronald. I'll put the 'R'."
Through tightly clenched teeth: "Ok. 'R' it is. Let's move on to our date of birth..."
This is so true! What's worse is when you go through this with 8th graders. You would think they would have learned by then!
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