FIAE+B1+Chapter+6

toc

Dan
Out of all the chapters we have read thus far this chapter was by far my favorite. Many times I found myself saying “haha Mr. So and So, your crazy repetitive multiple multiple choice tests were a big joke because my FIAE book told me so” or on a lighter note “I can't wait to incorporate these things into my classroom.” Of course we have to remember that this type of assessment shouldn't be used as a summative assessment all the time. These tips can help you make a formative assessment as well. With that said there were so many tips for assessments that I fear if I don't double or triple up ideas then I will leave them out. One of the examples had to do with not making tests that make it so students will need to guess. For example a multiple choice question with possible answers of a, b, a and b, c, d, all above. We used to call these multiple multiple choice questions in high school and for every classmate and I there was a second thought that went through our heads about possible answers and second guessing. Again, as we learned in the previous chapter tiering of assessments is also possible. Make sure that both forms answer the standard. To sum up the chapter, teachers by using these tips can help give the student every chance to succeed with these assessments. Most teachers (and me already from my time in the field) forget what we are trying to achieve with these tests and that is to assess student knowledge, understanding, and mastery of a topic.

Cassandra
Tests can be time consuming to create, that is why it shouldn't be last minute that a teacher puts together one. In order to differentiate test questions, a couple things can be done. One thing is very simple: to give the students a variety. One kind of questions that should be on the test are ones that we are all used to: fill in the blank, multi-choice, or short essay. The other is a more creative tactic to check a students understanding. Depending on the test information, teachers can ask the students to draw a scene or a character or to discuss or create a real life application for say a math problem. No matter what the questions are, each test should be fairly short to take and there should be a lot of choices. Students get fatigued in tests because of worry or just writers cramp. This affects whatever questions they answer last. Also, sometimes students can fully understand one aspect of the unit and has a hard time with another aspect. Choices allow the students to show their understanding without being penalized by what they struggle with.

Andy
The first thing of that I agree with right off was the mention twice in the first two pages of this chapter was to make sure you test questions are not vague so the students are trying to guess what is on the teachers minds or how he/she would want it answered. I have been there multiple times. I can see how this could be a way to make the students think, but then you will most likely have complaining students when the test is handed back. Avoiding confusing negatives was new to me. I have dealt plenty with answers that say, “all but C and D” but I have never heard anyone say that those should not be given to students in grade levels 5-10. The last thing that caught my attention was the two special questions, which are “What did you think would be asked on this test but was not?” and the follow up, “How would you answer that question?” This will allow the students a say in their test a bit, and show us teachers something that we might not have thought was important.

**Amy**
Creating test questions that are of great quality can be difficult, fortunately this chapter highlights valuable techniques for making great tests that reflect the understanding of each student. The book suggests mixing things up by providing both, “traditional and non-traditional test questions for added appeal. While multiple-choice, true/false, and prompts are good to use on tests, it is also helpful to use analogies, drawings, and diagrams” (75). Efficiency was also stressed, because it makes things easier for the students when they don not have to spend a lot of time writing out “true or false” or flipping pages back and forth because the test questions are on one side and the map or diagram for those answers is three pages away. When a lot of time is spent doing those things, less time is spent actually thinking about what is being asked, and it detracts from the entire purpose of the test or quiz. Finally, nothing is more frustrating for a student then to work on a test, and be stumped by the wording of every question they come to. At that point, the student dismisses the content of the question, and is then forced to decipher what is being asked (that’s not the actual question). As a student, I know quite well how it feels to be confused by how a question is worded and/or by how the multiple-choice answers are wishy-washy. When I become a teacher, I will be sure to make test/quiz questions clear and concise that way there is no confusion in terms of what the questions are asking.

Ethan
It is very important to create tests that effectively assess students. This section gives some ideas for developing tests that will properly assess a student’s progress. Being a math teacher, certain ideas stuck out more than others. Making questions fun was an important point. Especially with math, making word problems that are fun and interesting are better than boring questions. I also liked the idea of the two sided answer sheet so that when a student submits their test you can give them immediate feedback. After reading this chapter I can be certain that I will take pride in creating tests that are both interesting and challenging. I will also use the idea of a two sided answer sheet, but more likely on quizzes because I feel immediate feedback is more beneficial with quizzes than tests.

Josh
Tests should not be a list of tiring questions that may or may not judge a students comprehension. They should test a students mastery, and should keep the student engaged and give them freedom to answer questions with their own knowledge. It is a good idea to mix traditional and non traditional questions and writing essays. Mixing up questions with forced choice questions (questions that require students to choose from assessments from the teacher) and constructed response questions (questions that require the student to generate information themselves) are ways to effectively set up an assessment. "By using a variety of questions and prompts, we get a better picture of students' mastery"(FIAE page 75). Providing "T" and "F" rather than true or false make grading easier for the teacher because they get rid of interpretations of messy letters or words. Keeping matching questions on the same page and having fill in the blanks toward the end of the sentence are both things that help with comprehension issues. When giving a prompt, the teacher needs to create questions that do not give room to roam. Providing specific instructions on how a question should be answered keeps the responses concise and on target. A fun way to construct an exam is to include students name in questions. They will have more fun answering the questions and will look forward to seeing their name appear in print on the exam. The fashion in which a teacher gives feedback on an exam is equally important. Students spend a lot of time studying and taking the test, it is the teachers job to grade them promptly and provide feedback so the student can learn from mistakes before further learning is implemented.

Sean
This chapter's very first bit with the multiple choice question was a perfect example of how NOT to test a student's knowledge. So many of those tests can be beaten by guessing and eliminating a few other wrong choices. Students can get away with knowing very little or nothing at all, and still pass a multi-choice test. It also discusses how to frame the tests to assess exactly what you want to assess in a student's learning. So that would involve making the questions get into the real ideas behind whatever I'm teaching for my history class. The tests have to be framed to make them think, and make it so they can easily show what they were thinking.

George
This chapter was about how to create good test questions. Quite a lot of it was elementary. Things like trying to keep opinions out of questions. Try to vary questions so students don't get bored. You also want questions to be short and efficient. Make sure questions focus on the things that need to be assesed. It's also a good idea to try and make some of the questions fun. Some of my favorite classes were ones that the teacher would have a few joke answers in a test.

Darren
In this book, there are many, many valuable ideas that I hadn't thought of before. Most of these are simple tasks that seem small and insignificant, but they create better classroom environments where the kids feel comfortable to answer questions and fulfill tasks. This chapter compares good, intellectually crafted questions to poor assessment that is hard to understand. For example, it is hard for a student to answer a true or false question when the sentence contains multiple parts, some false, some true. In fact, it is important for teachers to keep their answers limited in scope; this makes it easier for students to answer and get the answers right. Another important hint I learned was to use students' names in the tests or quizzes I give. This seems so minute, but I have never had a teacher do that with any of my classes. It is a simple way to get the kids more involved and relaxed. It makes them laugh. For me, if I am going to give tests in class, they will be clear and easy to understand. I hope that throwing in bits of humor will make it easier for them to motivate themselves, and if all goes as planned, the tests won't be //as bad// as students dread.

Brian
In essence chapter six continues to instill the ideas of the previous chapters and elaborates on the idea of creating differentiated tests. The book describes tests and quizzes, and other forms of summative assessment, to be too heavily ingrained in today’s school system. This is not a bad thing by any means; however, we need to understand how to create a test that will successfully illustrate the students, as chapter two stated, mastery. Through the constant use of multiple choice tests and quizzes we teach the student to second guess themselves, instead of asking students open ended questions that they can feel confident in providing their own answer. When we do this, we can also provide more constructive feedback because we can see the explanation and thought process the student used in making an, either informed, or misinformed decision.

Jennifer
I was really surprised about the section on making assessments efficient for students. All these simple ideas for making tests easier were things I had trouble with in school. If my teachers had known this, I may not have been as tired or frustrated with their assessments. For example, a lot of my teachers put the words in the first list, then the definitions in the second list. I would look at the word, then have to read through all the definitions, and it was long and grueling. Also having traditional questions (multiple choice, true/false) and non-traditional questions(essays, diagrams) in one assessment will be helpful to the students and teachers. Students will be having, at some point in their lives, a standardized test which uses traditional questions so they will have experience with these types. With non-traditional prompts and questions, it is easier for me to assess the students. Making sure assessment questions are clear, long or short when needed, and making them fun, and making sure that they will assess what I want them to assess will be very beneficial.

Liz
Test, oh how our society loves them except when they don't. Test for the American youth are extreme and often uninformative. They can be lists of multiple choice answers where the student provides none of the information or it could be an essay where they provided it all. Chapter six is about making tests work for students since they are a necessary thing for the student of today. It gives tips to help students and for creating tests. This is valuable to me as a future teacher because I dislike the photocopied book tests that don't ask what I want students to know. This will help me create my own. Some of the techniques included using different formatting styles so that definitions come before words they are to be matched to or to use a combination of matching or selective answers and questions where students must provide the answer. It also hints at the need for teachers to stray from the essay and into diagrams. This seems like a good pla n.

Damian
Assess what you want to assess. How concise a point is that? I reflect on how many tests I had whose questions deviated from the target as the test progressed because the instructor wanted each question to be worth 2 points but ran out of questions at number 15. The chapter also illustrated the benefits of giving smaller tests more often as opposed to one large test at the end. Posting tests online for your students to refer to is, I feel, a great way to encourage student learning. Teachers may view a pre-release of a test as an ominous taboo but really, is it a bad thing if a student feels they will get a one up by learning the test’s answers…on their own? Are we teaching for the test or testing what were teaching? I don’t want to condemn years of precedent, but I do feel that sometimes we as educators cloud the real issues with a confusing veil of “it ain’t broken” philosophy.