I Was Shamed for Stretching My Arms Over My Head, and Almost Got Kicked Out for It.
Apparently streching isn’t “decent behavior” and shouldn’t be done in public.
It’s Spring, 2019 and I am registered to take the last test I need to complete my special education teaching credential, the RICA.
The Reading Instructional Competency Assessment (RICA) was a tough exam I had been studying and preparing for months. At this time, the RICA was a very challenging test, it has sense been reworked to make it easier. Many of my colleagues who were very experienced and very knowledgable had taken the RICA more than three times and still hadn’t passed it. It was the last hurdle I needed. I had already passed four other exams to show I had knowledge and skills to teach, and I was coming to the end of my coursework. A lot of hard work was leading up to this day.
The test covers the 5 domains of literacy, consists of multiple choice questions, 4 essay questions, and one case study.
I showed up to the official testing center a good 45 minutes early just to be sure. My previous four tests were all taken (and passed) at testing centers from the same company, Pearson Testing, however this one was in a different town than before, so I made sure I left with plenty of time incase I got lost.
The testing center had very strict rules to prevent cheating. Nothing could be brought in with you to the testing center, no pencils, paper, gum, candy, etc. We had to empty our pockets, and were even frisked in some casses. All we were allowed were our ID’s and maybe a sweater. All of our things had to be kept in lockers. We had to take palm prints and be palmed in and out of the testing center. During the test we were not allowed to stand up. If we needed to stand up for any reason, we could raise our hands. We were allowed to go to the bathroom, but the clock would not stop and we had to be escorted in and out, and palm in and out to prove it was us. There was no talking, and we would be recorded on video the entire time.
It was intimidating, but I was used to it and tried to stay calm.
When it was time I was shown into the actual testing room, rows and rows of computers. The proctor, a middle aged woman carefully examined me, my pockets, and items, and showed me a seat in the very back. There was one other person in my row.
Grudgingly, I was allowed to take my inhaler, (my asthma was pretty bad then) but only after very clear examination, and even then the proctor held onto it and told me I would only have access if I did in fact have an attack.
I was given laminated pieces of paper and sharpie for scratch paper, which would be collected at the end of the test. I sat down, made myself comfortable and started the four hour long test. I was ready.
On the scratch paper, I made five columns, labeling the five domains of reading instruction. The multiple choice questions were fun, and I took notes, classifying the different methods into the different columns. Several questions were saved so I could return later, they needed more thought. Then I crashed into the essays quesitons. All of them were challenging, one of them I had no idea how I was going to answer, but another felt easy. I dug in.
In the corner of my eye, I couldn’t help but notice the proctor was standing rather close to me, at the end of the table. She appeared to be looking at me, which was her right I suppose. It was very, distracting, especially since she kept looking at me and trying to catch my eye. Was she actually trying to get my attention?
The spell was broken and I looked at her. She was mouthing words at me, something I never could stand. I hate it when people mouth words, I never know what they are trying to say, I don’t really read lips or guess well. Please just talk to me.
I turned to her.
“Yes, can I help you?” I asked as quietly as possible. The proctor had an exasparated look on her face, as if I had totally annoyed her. She loud-wispered to me something, I leaned in closer to her to hear.
“You were stretching!” she said to me, with a half smile, half anger. I was totally perplyxed why she was talking to me, informing me of this. Why did she care? Was streching aganst the rules? I had read all the rules very carefully and never saw ‘no stretching’ but maybe I missed something.
“Is that not allowed?” I asked.
“NOOOOO!!!!” She said with the same half-smile/half-anger. She looked as if I had just flashed my but and mooned the whole testing center.
“Streching is not allowed, because it might distract the other people trying to focus on their exams. It’s not a big deal because you’re in the back row and no one can see you, but still…” she said. “I saw you raise your arms over your head!”
I was dumbfounded. What the hell? How the hell was I going to go an entire four hours without standing up or streching? I had taken four other tests at this company, and I’m sure I stretched my arms a dozen times during each test, when did this policy come into play?
“I’ll do my best to not stretch anymore” I told her. She gave another annoyed look.
I resolved to do my best to keep my arms down, and refocus on my exam. I nestled down in the chair, determined to make myself as comfortable as possible so as not to be tempted and got back to my exam. Now, about those essay questions, I can get at least two done. Which domain is essay three trying to test me on?
About 25 minutes later, the woman is back again, trying to get my attention. I really hated breaking my focus again, now what did she want?
“THESE PENS ARE COMMUNAL, DO NOT CHEW ON THEM!” She barked at me through her angry wisper. To my shame, I had been chewing on the back of the pen they gave me to write with. Now I was quite embarrassed. Chewing on the back of pencils and pens was a habbit I had my whole life, that I never seemed to shake. It was embarassing. I had tried to kick it many times, and have been able to kick other bad habits, but this one was stubborn. I hated it. Years later, I would be diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, and this would be correctly identified as an involuntary stim. But at that time, all I knew was I couldn’t control it. When I focus hard, I chew on things, usually my pencil. How the fuck was I supposed to not chew on this pen, the only thing they gave me?
As I said before, we weren’t allowed gum, candy, or anything else I could put in my mouth. I really wanted this lady to leave me along and let me take me test, and I didn’t know how I was going to not chew on her precious 10 cent sharpie. I knew that will power wasn’t enough, if I was thinking, I was going to find myself chewing on something. I had nothing, except, my ID card. I was allowed to bring my ID card with me. Surely she wouldn’t care that I was chewing on my drivers license, it was mine after all so I wouldn’t be harming any of her property. I held my ID in my non-dominant hand, confident that now my subconscious would attack it and not her precious sharpie.
The case study was intersting. It was a little boy who was clearly motivated to read, and even had some decent skills. However, he put so much work into decoding, struggling with hard k and c sounds, that there was no room left for comprehension. He was decoding the language and reading the words correctly, but had no idea what was happening in the story. What should I prescribe? How can I help him? What interventions can I design to specifically address the issue and scaffold the lesson so it doesn’t overwhelm the student?
I felt my arms folding over the top of my head, oh shit I had been stretching again. I looked over and saw the proctor glarring at me. Why couldn’t I just be left alone to take my test in peace? Why the hell did she care so much? I sent her an apologetic look and she shook her head in absolute disgust. WTF.
I had come up with several interventions and was writing them down. It was quite enjoyable figuring out the exact problem and designing interventions. Now to tackle that other essay about the English language learners…
Here comes the proctor, she interrupts my flow once again. She address me and I turn to face her properly, she is clearly upset.
“I NEED YOU TO STOP CHEWING ON YOUR ID. THAT IS NOT APPROPRIATE. ALSO, YOU NEED TO SIT UP STRAIGHT IN YOUR CHAIR, AND KEEP YOUR FEEL FLAT ON THE FLOOR. IF YOU CONTINUE TO KEEP ACTING INNAPPROPRIATELY, YOU WILL BE KICKED OUT, GIVEN A ZERO ON OUR TEST, NOT REFUNDED THE FEE, AND YOU WILL NOT BE ALLOWED TO RETURN. IS THAT CLEAR?”
In my focusing state, I had subconsciously taken my feet out of my slip on shoes and tucked them underneath me on the chair.
My body froze as I realized what this woman was threatening to do to me. I had paid over 350$ to take this test, a lot of money for me as a struggeling teacher going to school part-time to earn my credential. I was lucky enough to have this day off, there weren’t be any more. I would have to call in sick to retake this test. Furthermore, she was threatening to ban me from Pearson, and I might never get to pass my test. Essentially she was threatening to bar me from receiving my teaching credential-possibly forever. This woman who clearly hated me and wanted to take away my career I had worked so hard for-over behavior I did subconsciously.
The anxiety was awful. How the fuck was I supposed to be able to focus and finish a challenging exam with this weighing over my head? Forget trying to not do all the things she wanted me not to do, how was I going to do all that and stay calm enough to answer the questions well.
“Oh, and you stretched again” she informed me as she walked away.
I resolved I wasn’t going to let this woman ruin me. I took some deep breaths, calmed down, anchored my feet on the floor and got back to work. I finally found a good answer to the third essays quesiton about ELL learners. I checked my work, crafted my responses, reviewed the whole exam, and finished, raising my hand to be escored out. I had 25 minutes left, but wanted to get the fuck out of there as soon as possible.
The proctor came over, and took me to my stuff. She made a point of dramatically throwing away the pen I was using and glared at me like I was the spawn of satan. I don’t recall if she further lectured me or not, she probably did, but I was just happy I could leave.
As I left the center night had fallen in the 3.5 hours I had been in there. I breathed in the cool air, relaxing and grateful to be leaving, but someone stopped me. It was the receptionist who had checked me in.
“Hi” she said. “We need to talk”
“Hi, I’m sorry, what was wrong?”
“Well the proctor has informed you had some behavior issues during the test, namely you kept streching your arms over your head.”
“Yeah, sorry, it was a four hour test and my arms were cramping…”
“Listen, whatever you want to do in the comfort of your own home is your own business, but stretching is not appropriate behavior in public.”
You gotta be kidding me, I have literally never heard of that before. I guess yoga classes must be full on porno then.
“It’s not? People stretch all the time…”
“No it’s not, it’s not acceptable public behavior, it’s indecent.”
At this point I didn’t want to argue. I was done with my damn test and just wanted to leave; I didn’t want to argue this crazy claim that streching one’s arms over your head was indecent or not.
“Well, I’m sorry then. Have a nice day!” and I left while the receptionist was still trying to school me. Good grief.
Three months later, I found myself contacting Pearson and filing a complaint around that woman. After I thought long and hard, (and got my passing test results), I felt that she had been harassing me. Boy was I in for a shock.
Mean Proctor lady had already contacted Pearson, and informed them of my “behavioral issues” and had attempted to have my passing scores invalidated. An investigation had been done, and the entire video of me taking the exam had been watched by multiple people who had concluded my “behaviors” of streching my arms, chewing on my ID, and not keeping my feet flat on the floor were subconscious and not intentially antagonizing the proctor as she had claimed. Seriously, WTF? Luckily I had won. I then filed a complaint against her, and later another investigation was filled, she was found to have done nothing wrong either.
I don’t know how I managed to focus when she was harassing me and threatening me during the test, or why the fuck she cared so much. After that experience, I decided to never assume my stuedents were trying to piss me off. It’s real easy as a teacher to get angry at your super annoying students, and beleive they’re being annoying on purpose. Having now been in the other seat, I realized the importance of always assuming the best of my students. Going forward, I will never assume they are behaving bad to annoy me, see them as people just trying to survive, and that’s about all I can take away from this story.
Thanks for reading, I’d love any insight!
