fill in blank / multiple choice / word bank

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fill in blank / multiple choice / word bank

by MarkB/GA

Feb 21, 2013

Which do you do on your middle grade science tests? I am currently using a mixture of word bank/multiple choice/true false/ increase or decrease. But, I don't leave any to their memorization and expect them to fill in the blank without some help (except if I give them an extra credit question. Am I helping these students are hurting them? I have one regular class of 32 and one gifted class of 20. MarkB/GA

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Vet Teacher Am I helping these students are hurting them? > I have one regular class of 32 and one gifted class of 20. > MarkB/GA

How do we measure really whether we're helping or hurting?? Some will yell and loudly that we're hurting students unless we're_______________ (fill in the blank with just about anything) or multiple choice it - we're ...See MoreAm I helping these students are hurting them? > I have one regular class of 32 and one gifted class of 20. > MarkB/GA

How do we measure really whether we're helping or hurting?? Some will yell and loudly that we're hurting students unless we're_______________ (fill in the blank with just about anything) or multiple choice it - we're hurting them unless we're a. insisting they draw water from the well just as our ancestors did b. requiring them to dig a new well because life's too easy on them c. allowing them to drink from the well because they'll assume they'll be free water supplied to them for the rest of their lives and life and civilization as we know it will come to an end. d. all of the above

I came to think years ago that too much of school was based on memorization - as if memorization is somehow learning. The ancient Greeks didn't memorize, they had their students contemplate even more ancient writings and respond to the writing. Memorization came to dominate in American education because it served one room schoolhouses well where one teacher had many students of very different ages to teach. That teacher could say, "Memorize this and I'll be back later to see if you did." In the 1920s, science taught us that the brain was like a muscle and since we couldn't make it run on a track, we should memorize things to train our brains.

To do what? Memorize more? Science now teaches us that much of memorized information goes into a specialized part of the brain that then hits delete and frequently on any information put there... I give the same kind of tests you give. I'd like to give pithy questions like did the ancient Greeks but if I did, almost all of my students would flunk and unlike the ancient Greeks, I don't have the luxury of tossing my students out. Looking back on school and life, I realize that what impacted on me in school was my teachers - not so much what they taught or how they tested but who they were - decent human beings - or not...I endured many teachers whose classes were all about nit- picking memorization and trick questions that seemed to amuse them but taught me nothing but demonstrated the example of the misuse of power. What do we take out of school that really serves us in life? They don't teach how to balance a checkbook or figure out mortgage payments or plan a budget or how to dicker with a car salesman. They don't teach the benefits of zoned heating or how often really the oil in our cars should be changed. I did learn to read and write some in school but life itself has been the best and most important teaching I've had and little of what school gave me or did for me was of any help in life nor was it really connected to life - it was connected to the end of the chapter memorization-based test. Clearly I don't think you're hurting them...at all. Tests are some kind of mirage or rabbit in a magician's hat. Do they know it a year later? Can they integrate it with other information? Does it impact on how they think or how they vote or does it even lead them to vote and participate in their democracy or does it just roll off their backs if they're lucky and have a teacher like you who cares and considers the question of - am I hurting them? If you ask that, you're a great teacher because I've taught for 30 years and that's not a question I've often heard asked. Can we render them into decent, caring people? Does the kind of test we give help that kind of end-goal or does it hinder it?

Feb 27, 2013

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