SeDoMoCha MS ninjas attack the NECAPs

By Stuart Hedstrom  Staff Writer
    DOVER-FOXCROFT — For many students the thought of taking a standardized test can make them anxious or apathetic.

To get the pupils engaged in the upcoming New England Common Assessment Program (NECAP) tests, teachers and administrators at SeDoMoCha Middle School are incorporating a theme centered around martial arts leading up to the annual test taking.
    “We are pretending we are ninjas for the NECAPs so we can conquer our testing,” said a student in Amy Fagan-Cannon’s grade 7 English language arts class when she asked her pupils what they are doing before they take the standardized test.
    Fagan-Cannon said last year the seventh-grade teachers came up with a theme of ninjas —  this year known as “Be a NECAP Ninja Star” — to get the students excited about the testing “and change their paradigm about taking standardized tests.” She said social studies teacher Derek Carroll made black headbands to help the students feel like the martial arts masters who are up to the challenge posed by the test.
    Plans for this year include middle school teachers — the NECAPS are for grades 5-8 as well as elementary students in grades 3 and 4 — dressing in black, headbands the same color for students to wear and a celebratory program once testing is finished. Grades 5-7 have six days of testing, 90 minutes per day, with the half dozen sessions split between language arts and math. Students in grade 8 will have an additional day for the NECAP as they take an additional writing test.
    “It’ s a way to get the kids excited about taking the test, knowing they can ‘take it down,’” Fagan-Cannon said. Carroll provided students with a list of questions, each starting off with a phrase that ninjas may have used in their training. The words of encouragement include “stare down the question with menace,” “attack,” and “make use of your tools and training.”
    The students have been preparing for the NECAPS in their classes, learning some methods for taking the test. Fagan-Cannon said she believes the ninja theme motivates the middle-schoolers to perform better.
    “It’s worthwhile because it makes testing fun,” she said. “We want them to go in positive, wanting to do their best and I think we have created that positive energy. We have told them not to have negative attitudes, but to be positive.”