Friday, February 15, 2008
I hate taking tests....
I believe learning should not be based on taking tests. People put too much emphasis on it and I hate it. If I had it my way there would be no tests because many people have testing anxiety and perform worse. I would be one of them. Grades should be on what you learned and not how much you can reflect on paper. However, that is not the society we live in. Tests are everything...for example the ACT. You have to have a certain ACT score to get into college and/or the departments. There is WAY too much emphasis on tests. That is my opinion.
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5 comments:
I hate tests too, but in a way I understand why teachers need them. They need to know how much information you have retained and how much of it you can apply to life. Especially open response/essay questions. I would much rather have an open response than a multiple choice question style for a test. I usually can confuse the heck out of myself on those. So, yeah. For the most part I hate tests too, but I guess they are necessary. I hope everyone had a wonderful Valentine's Day!
I am with you. I HATE tests. I would prefer to NOT give them and NOT give grades.
I feel like too often students only care about GRADES and they place more emphasis on that then what they are LEARNING and need in order to PREPARE them for their future.
I agree that as a society we place WAY too much emphasis on the GRADE rather than what we are LEARNING.
Anyone who would prefer to NOT take the tests in this class are WELCOME TO NOT TAKE THEM. All you have to do is set up a time with me to discuss the content. Your test grades will be based on those discussions. One might call that an "oral exam." But, I believe students could much more effectively demonstrate what they know and are able to do and wouldn't have to stress over a written exam.
I'd love to design assessments around the concept of professional learning communities and place students in groups. I would meet with each group, give them a task to do and then evaluate each person based on their contribution to the group task. This mirrors what teachers will be doing in school settings!
I mean school should be based off what you have learned, and not just trying not craming for test that they will not remember the information ever. I mean every time I take test I feel good about taking it but when I go to see the grades I feel like a failure. When I finally become a teacher I am going to find other ways of giving grades than just tests.
Kristen, we TOTALLY agree. I think having to assign POINTS to a written answer is very difficult to do. I TOTALLY agree if I sat down and discussed with a student a topic I would have a much better sense of the DEPTH of their understanding of the topic and how well they would be able (in our case) be able to apply that to a classroom setting.
On the other hand, if a student truly feels GOOD after taking an assessment, that means they feel as if they have mastered the content and feel as if they are able to USE the information later in the REAL WORLD. This means GRADES DO NOT MATTER. So, it shouldn't matter what GRADE is assigned. Wouldn't it be great if we got to the place where we worked for what we LEARNED instead of what LETTER a professor put on a project, paper, course.
HONESTLY...and I know you're all going to throw up or not believe me. I once took a course (as a professional) where I knew I NEEDED the information. The professor only talked about HIMSELF, his career and a bunch of other crap. He occasionally threw in content and told us where we could go to get resources. I did not learn ANYTHING in that class as I had a very hard time working through the resources and understanding the content. He gave us all A's!! I learned NOTHING. I wasn't satisfied with that although I got the GRADE everyone would want. I went to a different university, took the same course and worked my butt off with a professor who was very tough, but fair. I wondered all the way through why on earth I was putting myself through this. But, I learned A GREAT DEAL and to this day have a much better understanding of that area of school administration.
I agree with you whole heartedly...learning should be about learning and never about grades. We should never feel like a FAILURE if we have LEARNED material and KNOW we will be able to use it in the REAL WORLD to change children's lives.
P.S. The 4 tests in this class are only worth 40% of the overall grade. Each time a test is added that weight will change to reflect that.
You get 10% of your grade TOTALLY FREE for simply taking the time to come to the Internet and post your ideas.
The other weights are in the gradebook you can check out as well. In the end I believe ALL students who put forth effort will be very pleased with the grade they received...as I know grades do matter to parents, GPA, scholarships and other external factors.
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