Time Spent Test-Taking

In response to the amount of time I spend giving tests in my classroom, I would say the following:

Tests have a number of purposes in my classroom... I use them to make sure the students are learning the material in my objectives; I use the data to assess where I need to spend more time; and I use them to teach responsibility (students must study and be prepared otherwise there are severe consequences as evidenced by their grades). My class is a junior/senior elective, and I do not give grades for most of the activities we do in class. In an effort to make the class more like a college-level class (they do receive dual credit through the community college), I only give grades for papers and tests. It behooves the students to have more tests than less in case they receive a poor grade on one.

I do not have much of a response for the latter part of the question. There are no state tests given for sociology, nor history. If I did, I would spend plenty of time practicing tests similar to the state tests because practice makes perfect. Again, it is beneficial to the students to be prepared, and not have to "wing it."

Using data in the classroom

To be honest, I do not use one iota of formal data in my classroom. Until I read Morrison’s article, I thought I was isolated from the issue. Two of my three classes are a senior elective in Contemporary Social Issues, and the other is a "traditional" level of US History 2. I have no standardized tests from which I can receive feedback on what I’ve been teaching. After a unit has come and gone, there is such a time crunch that if a number of my students did not fully understand a concept as evidenced by a low test score average, I still must move on, and there are no consequences. There is no concrete prerequisite to learning about different events in history (though it makes more sense if one understands what happened before) or different ideas is sociology, as there is in the various steps in learning math or science or writing.

I’ve come to realize, though, that my ideas on what exactly data is, have been misconceived. Apparently, I am well on my way to making major changes in my own teaching in regard to data, as I do use data on a daily basis, albeit informally. My classes start with a do now refresher question from the previous day’s lesson or with an anticipatory question about a theme from the current day’s lesson. Judging from the class’ responses, I can vary my lesson based on what they remember, or on what they already know. Unfortunately, my pop quizzes are usually punitive in nature, though I do take the results from them and expand on concepts that need more clarification.

I emphasize writing in my sociology classes, and I tell my students they will become better writers by the time I’m done with them. The way I can prove this is by using a rubric to grade their essays, and looking at the gradual increase in their scores over the course of the term. If I ignore the outlier scores from the lazy students, I can show them that their grades do in fact increase from, let’s say 86 to 89 to 91 to 94. What do I do with this information? I can’t think of anything, except continue to require the highest standards from my students when it comes to writing reaction papers, knowing that it pays off in the end.

Morrison wrote that we need to realize there is more to data than standardized tests, and we will be on our way to making changes in our teaching that will benefit the students. By realizing this, I can actually see the importance of data, and can try to think of new ways to use it, even informally.