Ah, the end has come.
There were a number of very useful aspects of this chapter. First and foremost, I will make use Table 7.1 which outlines the estimated amount of time required for middle-school students to respond to different types of test questions. Secondly, I will be sure to heed the authors' advice to test frequently and in a consistent fashion. During novice teaching, my own unit and my cooperating teacher's units tended to take longer than expected. This resulted in almost weekly rescheduling of assessments. In future, I will rework assessments to address what was covered, even if that means I only print the quiz the day before. Flexibility on my part is fine, but I sensed the kids needed more predictability to keep themselves organized. Finally, I appreciated all the pointers on how to construct the different types of assessment items and to evaluate your overall assessment structure. I may copy and laminate these pages as I expect to wear them out over the next few year.
Kris: Melissa, I liked all the points you made in your post. The guide for question times is very helpful because I think teachers often do not leave enough time to answer everything because they are thinking from their own level rather than that of the students. I have had many teachers that give tests or quizzes all the time, and that can be very stressful as a student. I think students need time to learn new material in-depth and not always have to stress about the next test. I also liked all the pointers for forming assessment items as they give teachers a guide they can use to form good test questions.
ReplyDeleteSandy: Melissa, I liked the way you began your post. I too am feeling a sense of accomplishment as the end is near. Students feel the same way when a unit is over and how long a unit takes and how long a teacher thinks it will take is still difficult for me. I also liked your idea of taking pages and copying and laminating them for easy and frequent use. That is an idea I was able to get from you and not the book and I will definately use it. Thanks.
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