Entry the Fifth or: How I've been Punching Germs in the Face

Another week down. Luckily my students saw fit to bring all of their germs into the classroom and infect their fearless teacher (who coincidentally no holds them in contempt) and ruin his week. I shall not falter, justice will be served…presumably on the first exam.

Right off the bat this week’s reading hit me with some really valuable tips. On pages 74-75 of McKeachie’s Teaching Tips a list of assertions is provided that really had me thinking. Every assertion didn’t strike me, but there were a few that I think hold a lot of value. The first one that struck me says student’s learn as much from tests as the do from me (professor Mattix) and often times they learn more from said tests. I was a bit shocked by this at first because I would like to believe that all of my student’s sit in class like dogs begging for another tasty scrap of knowledge, but I know that this is not the case (or even close to it).
I suppose it makes sense then, that my students would learn more from the tests, because the reality of the classroom situation is, student’s take tests more seriously. I know when I was an undergraduate student I certainly valued the tests more than the day-to-day goings-on of my classes, and I think it has something to do with the impact tests have on grades. I never cared what was happening in most of my classes unless we had a test coming up and I think the same probably holds true for my students.
I think the best way to make this work to my advantage is to make sure that the tests they take are designed for maximum retention. This will mean that they are carefully formed to cover all of the most important parts of text book material as well as in-class activities. I feel that a test can be a way for students to get something out of a class that they may not want to take (like Comm 110).


Secondarily, I thought the information on pages 77-78 was a bit on the bogus side. It is an argument for group testing as an alternative to the apparently oppressive nature of traditional test taking. I’m probably blowing this out of proportion, but I really disagree with group tests. I feel that in order for a student to effectively showcase knowledge it needs to be a solo process. Now don’t get me wrong, I think that groups can provide some of the most valuable learning experiences for students, but I don’t think that because students work in groups they should also be tested as a group.
My reasoning behind this is pretty simple, I think. When students are tested as a group it’s too hard to tell if everyone actually knew the information or if one person is carrying the group. I know that some people believe that even if one person is providing the brunt of the information, at least the other students will know it after the test, but that’s not really the purpose of a test, is it? No. Tests are a tool for measuring knowledge, and I don’t think that can be effectively done within a group, at least not in my classroom.

The third item I found useful is on pages 106-107 of Teaching Tips and is about dealing with student aggression after the first test. I had never thought about how students will react to their grades on the first test or how they may be frustrated by it. This section was helpful because it gave me some methods for reducing frustration and aggression.
The first suggestion given in the text is to tell students how and why you test them on the concepts covered in class in order to reduce their level of frustration. This is pretty obvious, but I think it will be effective. If students understand why something is the way it is they are less likely to argue about it and more apt to adapt so that they can conquer it. The book also says that telling students how the information will be helpful to their long-range goals can be helpful, but I know that when I was an undergrad I usually blew people off when they said something would help me later.
The next thing the book talks about is giving clear instructions. I feel that this is the best way to reduce frustration and anxiety for test takers. The clearer the instructions the easier it is to concentrate on the information and not arbitrary things like “did I fill in the bubbles correctly?” I always tests will nebulous instructions so I assume everyone else does too.
I’m glad that we are required to use multiple choice and true/false questions on the exams we write for Comm 110, because it seems like students automatically feel more at ease when they know a test is formatted this way.

LINKS!
Dumm Comics
Writing Multiple Choice Tests