September is one of my favorite months of the year. Some obvious reasons why, might be because I get to see my returning students, I get to meet new ones, and I get to set the tone for the rest of the year. These are among the main reasons I anticipate the start of the school year, but there is yet another reason I like September. And that reason is the “Fitness Test.” The Fitness Test is a New York State Test that measures student’s muscular strength and endurance. For one week, students have “Fitness Test Training,” where they are given a card with specific workouts and are expected to complete that card by the end of the class. For many students this card is an immovable mountain. They see what I expect of them and say, “Mr. Wong are you serious? Mr. Wong this is a joke right? Mr. Wong you’re a funny guy?” The truth is that I do have high expectations of my students and I take pride in pushing them further then they believed they could go. The conversations for the next couple of days are as follows, “I’m so sore, how about you? I cannot believe I actually finished ever thing on that card. Mr. Wong I have not worked out like that in months.” Little do they know that that’s music to my ears. It is not until the following week that they begin to realize the fruits of their labor. They understand why they were pushed so hard and how easy the Fitness Test actually is.

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