Yet there were problems with the quiz. Some of it came from students feeling confused by what they were supposed to do. Even with directions, they required--as one student suggested after the quiz was done--a model in each section that would make it clear visually what was required of them. Some students were thrown of by language: one student particularly pointed to the word "modify." Though we have used this term before, it seems to not be prevalent enough in our instruction to have been internalized by her (and most likely others). The worst problem was that my effort to make things simple was mistranslated by some students as an attempt at "tricking them," that the answer was something other than the obvious one before them (I guess that problem will manifest on a quiz regardless of my efforts).
It was very interesting hearing from the students after the quiz. There comments, particularly modeling, is something I will bring to future assessments.
Garri,
ReplyDeleteThis experience offered you a good lesson on assessing student learning. If you always offer students an EXAMPLE that illustrates what they are being asked to do, you can't go wrong. You could only do better by offering TWO examples.
One way that you can overcome the problem of a student's not understanding a word on a quiz is to allow students to ASK questions during a quiz. It is the student's responsibility to tell a teacher if there is a word she does not understand. You could even write those instructions on the quiz or exam itself. Notice that students OFTEN tell me when they do not understand something on an exam being taken in class. Moreover, a teacher absolutely can not be held responsible for knowing all the vocabulary words that students do and don't know. The word "modify" has often been used in our class presentations and discussions. You should not feel as if you made a mistake by using that word on your quiz. It is a perfectly appropriate word choice for you to use on your quiz.