(Page 253) “Some tests encourage teachers to race through content never slowing down to help students think deeply about the material, thus encouraging endless data bytes promptly forgotten once the test is over.”
Was anyone else given 20 vocabulary words every week in high school with the multiple choice test on Fridays to make sure you “learned” them? In the hundreds of words I was supposed to learn, I remember one: deluge. Or how many of us loved having the multiple choice and/or matching tests in classes so we could have a shot at getting the right answer so the teacher would at least think we knew something? The fact of the matter is we didn’t get to show any of our learning with those tests. (Hence the problem with Accelerated Reader tests…I would probably fail the tests on some of my favorite books, though I could write intelligently about them if given the opportunity.) Of course, having students write more on tests means they take longer to grade. And we have to grade them ourselves—there isn’t one right answer to where we could get an aide to grade them for us. But if they trade off is that we discover that student actually know something (or don’t know!), don’t you think it’s worth it? Of course, there is the whole issue that students have to take standardized multiple choice tests—EOC, HSAP, SAT, etc.—so they need have some practice with those as well. Maybe a combination approach is best? But if we think about it, in the “real world,” when do we ever take a multiple choice test? The only one I can think we ever take is for a driver’s permit. In the long run, is it better for student to bubble a correct answer or write intelligently on a particular topic?
7 comments:
I have really gotten away from testing in my psychology and criminal justice classes and have done more of the project-based assessment for the very reasons that Daniels, Zemelman and Steineke highlight…it gives my students an opportunity to really learn the material and learn it well. When I give the ‘standardized’ version of a test using the majority of multiple choice or fill in the blank questions it did not provide the students an opportunity to demonstrate their true knowledge. However, if I give them an opportunity do a ‘lab-type’ test they gain invaluable insights. Like the author, I give my students a project that is called the “Oldest Living Relative” project. They are able to relate the decades of history to the stories gained from interviews with their oldest living relative and learn the history along the way. They don’t come away from the experience unscathed…they come away with life-long memories because as the authors point out they are able to connect family history with US history and this gives them meaningful learning experiences that last.
Blog Entry #13 – Content Area Writing – Chapter 10
I know that I would fail most Accelerated Reader tests. I read a lot, but I read very fast. It’s good if you want to read lots of books, but not so great for comprehension. Books that I really love I will read a second time to really appreciate; I will also reread materials that I really need to learn and remember. Because of that, multiple choice tests have always been more difficult for me than essay tests, so I love having the ability to express my knowledge through writing and/or performance assessments. I can put together a portfolio with the best of them, and I love to create bulletin boards and have my students complete projects. They are time consuming, and Diane is right that they take more time to grade, but at the same time you learn more about your students. Also, with the students I currently teach, they often need alternative assignments to show their progress. Students with reading difficulties often struggle with multiple choice, matching, and fill-in-the blank tests, but given the opportunity to write or create a product, they can often show you some wonderful thinking.
As teachers we are assessed in many ways, but except for the NTE and/or Praxis, most of our assessments require extensive writing. National Board certainly does. This past week, alone, I had to write several IEPs, send out countless emails that I always edit, put together a presentation for May 7, write a proposal for consideration by the Director of Special Services for the district, and write back to students in their writing journals. And of course, I’ve written this blog entry. I hope I’ve written intelligently.
I very clearly remember two testing situations from my school days.
Situation one was a 4th grade fill-in-the-blank Social Studies test. As I began the test I realized that my mind had gone completely blank. I couldn’t remember one thing on the entire test. Unfortunately because it was a fill-in-the-blank test I was unable to guess like on a multiple choice tests or B.S. my way through it like some short-answer or essay tests (keyword – some essay tests). I sat with the test in front of me and panicked, just like I know many of my students do when they get handed a test that only tests their ability to memorize information.
Situation two was a 10th grade US History essay test. Every test we were given during this trimester long class was essay form. Before the actual test we were given three possible questions for the essay and only one would be chosen on the day of the test. Our teacher did give us the opportunity to come in before school to work on an outline for the three questions. I tried taking the first test without getting help on the outline and soon realized that I would not be able to pass the test without coming in before school. The teacher had a very distinct idea of what information needed to be included in the essay in order to fully answer the question and unless you received the guidance for the outline you could pretty much guarantee that you wouldn’t cover all of the information he wanted. After I took the first of many essay tests in the class I felt defeated and was not looking forward to trying to live up to what my teacher expected from us.
After reading this chapter and thinking back to my own test-taking days, I realized we could argue for days about the best test to give. I really like the idea of project-based assessments since all students learn differently and therefore test differently. I teach a student right now who would fail miserably when faced with the essay test I had to take in 10th grade. He is able to verbally articulate what he wants to say but when it comes to writing he struggles a lot and often chooses not to complete written parts of tests/assignments. I know being able to write well is important (why else would we be taking this class?) and working with our students to get them to be able to write better without scarring them for life is a very important and difficult task.
Blog 13
Chapter 10 Teaching Adolescent Writers
I am pleased to say that I have only given three tests this year and not one of them has been multiple choice. I believe that our number one priority in terms of assessing in our own content areas should be to as frequently as possible allow our kids to show us what they know instead of testing them in ways that set them up for failure. Pam, AR is a perfect example of that. At my nephew’s school in Florence, students are required to earn a certain number of AR points each nine weeks. They also aren’t allowed to read books below their lexile ranges. My nephew, who is an excellent student, currently has to stay in at lunch to read because he didn’t meet his AR goal. He read a very long non-fiction book and made a 30 on the test. He begged his mother (my sister) not to make a fuss over it. She did approach the teacher to ask if she could just change his 30 to a 50 since at my sister’s school they’re not allowed to give grades lower than a 50. She said she’d love to but she couldn’t because it wasn’t their policy. Anybody think my nephew will ever just read fro pleasure when he’s older? I highly doubt it. Everything he’s had to do this year for AR in terms of assessment has killed any chance of that. Another example is that Carlie had to miss recess after lunch so she could finish her MAP test. That should never happen. You don’t tell kids to take their time and do their best and then penalize them when they do.
When I test kids I almost always try to get them to reflect on how what they’ve learned will impact them personally, especially in my current content area. This type of reflection is very important to me because I think reflection becomes increasingly important as kids mature in to adulthood.
As for the topic of assessment in Content Area Writing, I do believe that putting college-bound kids in timed writing situations is valid. Almost every test our students take is untimed until tenth grade when they take PSAT and PLAN. We have to equip our college-bound kids with the ability to perform under time restrictions.
I remember in high school and even in college taking tons of multiple choice and fill in the blank tests. I even took a class that was about how to write multiple choice tests and make them as reliable as possible. Truthfully though, these are never truly reliable. How many times have we told kids when taking HSAP or SAT, if you don't know it, just guess because there is a chance you might get it right? However, if it were our own test, we don't want kids to guess because then we don't really have a firm understanding of what they really know v/s what they somehow got right from guessing on a multiple choice test.
I remember well the teachers who let us do projects instead of tests and used those as assessments of our knowledge. I remember sewing a costume for a project and preparing dishes for others. These truly tapped in to my learning style and my ability and I often soared with these types of projects. These are the ones I still remember and these are the ones that I still have a great deal of knowledge about.
Unfortunately many teachers fail to let their students do projects such as this because giving a multiple choice assessment is easier and faster to grade. We must really push ourselves to be the example and show other teachers how varying assessments can benefit the students and are not necessarily that much more time consuming to “grade”.
Content Area Writing- Chapter 10
I have always hated a fill-in-the-blank test. They are hard but most of the time there could be an alternate answer. I do give some multiple choice tests because we are instructed to practice with the students so they will be ready for HSAP,etc. However, not all kids test well. I am not a good test taker. I feel that I am of reasonable intelligence yet if you were to look at any of my standardized test scores, you would think the opposite. And usually, I had to kill myself to get ready for any test in high school and college. So I do try in every unit to give some type of alternate assignment so that the kids who do not test well will have a chance to shine.
Most of the tests I took in high school were Multiple Choice, Matching, and the dreaded Fill in The Blank, more often than not without a word bank. I too remember just a few vocabulary words Diane, one of which is sot, which I was my senior year in high school. I do have to say that my english teachers almost always gave us tests that required us to write out our answers, espcially when these tests were checking our knowledge on a book or play we had read. One class that I took my senior year was Advanced Composition. Even though writing has never been one of my strong points, I enjoyed this class because it helped prepare me for most of the writing I was going to have to do in college. I'm not sure if this kind of class is even available today. With all of the emphasis being placed on writing skills on standardized tests today, I think it would be a great idea for a class like this to be offered as an elective.
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