The discussion was great. Thanks to Jane G. for sharing so openly with us about her struggles and discoveries about her students' perceptions of testing and learning. Lendy's read aloud of Duck for President was just perfect!
For Chapter 6: "Creating Good Test Questions," I would like you to think about the following: What makes a good test question?
How do you know if a question is good or not?
Have you ever thrown out any of your own test questions after students have taken the test?
What else are you thinking about?
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November 3, 2008
BCSCRI Our Culture &
Chapter 6 Creating Good Test Questions
After reading the culture article is it any wonder why race relations, teacher-student relations and all other relations are so messed up? I suppose we really have a lot to learn about each other and our students. As teachers we can’t assume that our students’ lives are like our lives. We think that students go home in the afternoons to cool or warm comfortable homes and start their normal routines of doing homework, chores, dinner of some sort (even if it is just fast food) and a little television watching or game cube playing and then off to bed. This is the culture that we would like for our students to be from, but many students are far removed from this culture.
From talking to teachers and administrators, many of our students are having a difficult time adapting to our school culture. Students are not willing to wear ID’s, abide by classrooms rules, do homework, or even dress out for PE. None of these rules or requirements should be new for our students, but they are enforced more than in the past and many of our students are struggling in this new culture.
Our new president-elect is facing challenges because he is the first African-American elected to our highest office. The challenges have been about his skin color, his religion, his own given name that was not even of his choosing. These cultural issues sometimes got in the way of discussing the more important issues like jobs, healthcare, and education. As an African-American, I can’t help but smile a little broader when I see he and his family on the cover of magazines. But as one of his greatest proponents, Roland Martin a broadcast journalist said, “I am all for him, but I will be one of his greatest critics once he is in the White House.” It’s just in my culture to do so. This culture topic is one that will always be in the forefront because if we make strides in ethnic culture, we still have the organizational culture to tackle. My husband has a friend who still tries to make him feel bad about mopping the floors and cleaning the bathrooms in our home. In his culture, house cleaning is a woman’s job. In the Hinton culture it is whoever can do the task best.
I now know why I am not in the classroom. I would never create a good test! I hope teachers take classes on test preparation. The suggestions like give the student the T and F to circle on the test is a great suggestion. The teacher will get much better responses on essay questions if the questions are designed the way Wormeli does it. He says to state the things you want included in the essay. This is not giving the answer, just showing the student what needs to be discussed. What a great way to get good responses.
After reading the chapter on creating good test questions, I realized just how difficult creating a good test can be. The biggest key is to make sure that the questions are straightforward without having the student to guess what the teacher is thinking. This could get really difficult. I loved all the strategies that were given in this chapter. Some that I thought could be really beneficial are putting the T/F on the test paper for the students to circle. Also the idea of putting the sentences on the left side of a matching test and the words on the right was such common sense, but I know that I have created matching “practice tests” for my own kids and done it the opposite way every time. I definitely learned something for the next time I need to do this. I also loved the double response idea. I know that I have worried about test grades, even if just overnight, waiting to get it graded. What a great way for students to know how they did! Since I have always been in the media center, I have never had to create a test. But, I have had teachers throw out test questions when the entire class or most of the class missed the question. It makes the student realize that the teacher makes mistakes and is also fair!
Just a side not, two of Mrs. Gregory’s students in my youth group were taking about the Miss Grace questions on her tests tonight. I instantly thought of her when I read about making test questions fun. They thought the Miss Grace questions were the hardest but it definitely something they remember and thought was very unique
An interesting point made in the culture article is the one about cultural proficiency: " We can embark on a journey to become culturally proficient educators to meet the needs of each student by acknowledging and accommodating the culture of the family." Since my year as a first year teacher, my cultural proficiency has changed in the sense that I realize the need for students to see things from another's viewpoint.
The value of culture is very important in the World Language classroom.
In response to the questions about tests, I have dropped a question from a test. I drop questions when there is a large number of students who don't understand. I believe that that is the fair thing to do. I find that the best test question is the one that is challenging but at the same time straight forward. It should not be tricky.
Blog 5 Rick Wormeli Creating Good Test Questions Jane Gregory
I especially liked the “ Include Two Special Questions “ section and plan to ask the first question and its follow-up on my next algebra test, if for no other reason than it makes the test more fun to grade. My other fun question on every test is one in which Miss Grace, my dog, is the star. The kids all tell me that my Miss Grace problem is the hardest on every test, but I believe they think that because it is always a word problem. I do not like Wormeli’s suggestion about including a question that at first sounds reasonable but it is actually impossible to answer. That sounds tricky to me and that is the last thing I need to do for these algebra students who view this class to be so difficult. The thoughts in the last paragraph – grading in a timely manner and students getting copies of their tests so as to learn from their mistakes – are very important to me.
Blog 11/3/08
Ch. 6 – Test Questions
In the past I have not tiered instruction and tests as much as the students may need. In a high school math class it is difficult to do without justifying to the students why one student would get a different assignment or test than another student. However, I have been able to have some of the same effect on a test by giving part credit and by counting some of the more difficult questions with less points or by giving more than 100 points on a test. I try to determine if the student understands the concept and then if they have mastered the details of solving the problems. Understanding the concepts can earn them a passing grade, but only mastering the details will earn them an A.
i found the question of making a test an interesting one. The section that struck home with me was about using smaller tests over time. So many times we teach a unit then give the test. some students for whatever reason may not test well and they show mastery in different ways. By testing smaller and more frequently, we take the pressure off of the students to know everything at the end of the unit. End of unit tests are still important to determine if students can sequentially determine the outcomes for which we are striving but perhaps we put too much emphasis on them. I also found the segment on timed tests interesting. The author inferred that academia is responsible for the timed test and no one else uses a test of this type. It is interesting that many of our tests are timed.
I've always been a big proponent of "Mak[ing] Questions Authentic to the Instruction." I've had teachers/professors who have asked me to read material that was never discussed in class--material that was later tested. I always found that disheartening and exhausting.
This leads me to a little soap box...One struggle I've always had (and I know I'm not alone) is summer reading. Don't get me wrong, I am all for encouraging students to read when school's not in session--but I find it difficult to accurately assess reading done outside of class that was never discussed in class.
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