B2+FIAE+Chapter+6

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**Andrew C**
Chapter six did a great job at showing me the little things that I can do on my tests to make it less stressful and more practical for my students. This chapter emphasizes the importance of not just having the students memorize the information and then spit it back out on test day. They need to learn and comprehend it. I had not really thought of how I could make my tests more efficient and fair for students. The author pointed out several instances where one small change by the teacher on the test can make a world of difference for the students. For example having the definitions of a matching part to an exam on the right side and the one word response be on the left makes it so much easier. I remember that pretty much every one of my teachers in high school did it the opposite. They probably didn’t even think about the students who had trouble reading or during true and false portions students who have trouble writing. I will definitely be sure to do this in my classroom because I want to make it as manageable as possible for all of my students. This chapter also had a few very good ways to strengthen our exams in other ways as well. I will be sure to make the prompts clear, keep it short and to the point, don’t give meaning less questions or tasks, and tier questions as warranted when making my tests later on in my teaching career.

**Ali P**
Chapter six focused on how to fairly access students using tests and quizzes. The chapters stressed the use of variety and creativity in the questions. It is important to keep students engaged in the test and not to __#|tire__ them out in the middle of it. The chapter recommended not timing the tests. Many students crash under a time limit or forget about it and run out. Each question a teacher makes needs to have a objective. If the question does not have an objective, then there will not be a clear answer. It is extremely important for tests to be clear and easy to understand. A student should not have to guess what the teacher is asking. If they do have to guess, they will waste their energy trying to interpret the question and not looking for the answer. It really helps for teachers to take time before the test begins to let the students look over the questions and clarify any questions. I remember when I was in high school we had big tests every month instead of a final each __#|semester__. I really liked this system because I could really focus on what the test was on and not feel overwhelmed. I liked having a variety of test grades instead of one huge final grade as well. When I __#|become a teacher__ I want to focus more on projects then on tests. However I will probably still test some. When I formulate tests I want to use a variety of different testing techniques. I don't want them to be just an essay or just true or false. I also want to give the students choice with their test. For example I would let them chose between writing an essay or creating a timeline. This way they will be able to use the format they feel most comfortable with and need to share the content either way.

Jackie B.
Just from the title alone I knew I’d have a lot to say because of my past with tests and how certain teachers that just didn’t know how to write good test questions. “Tests shouldn’t __#|play games__ with student’s success” is a really great quote that was used in the first paragraph after the scenario (p.75). I think some teacher think it’s okay to play mind games as if they’re trying to trick their students and that’s not okay. A test should be used to see how much a student learned, assess their knowledge of the content, not play mind tricks. The second section talks about variety in the questions which is also important. It adds depth to the assessment and it varied which means kids who aren’t so great at filling in the blank will have a chance to make up for that portion of the test with true or false, or multiple choice. The whole concept of variety has really taken over my way of thinking and now I realize just how important it is in everything I do in the teaching world, including tests. Later on in the chapter the reader learns about confusing negatives. For example answers such as “ All of the above except C and E” or “none of the above except A and D”. I remember how confusing this was back in middle school/ high school and how frustrated I would get having to go back and read what choices C and E were and then reading the question. It’s all very repetitive and it wastes time. I think these types of questions are the kinds of questions teachers ask when they’re trying to trick a student and in my opinion that’s just not okay. I would never intentionally try and trick a student in my class through tests. Then again I wouldn’t create this kind of test with answer choices like these.

Cameron B.
The beginning of the chapter talks about how to make tests for a class. It is important to mix up the question types in the test. No test should simply be fifty multiple choice questions. That test may not be beneficial for all students especially those who struggle with reading. A test should contain multiple choice, true/false, short essay, drawing of diagrams, and a larger essay. Not all have to be on one test but just a variety. This accommodates all students and makes the test not as bland. A basic but neat idea is for matching. Have the definitions on the left hand side of the page and the blanks on the right. That way students can read left to right and is easier to follow. Another key point on tests is to make sure the prompts are clear. The test should not be based on what the teacher feels is the answer. The students should have an idea based on the question what is expected of them for guidance throughout the question. One idea I found interesting was using a pattern in tests like multiple choice or true false. As a student I always caught myself looking for these patterns and surprisingly caught a few of them. I feel as if this not a wise decision for teachers to do. In a way I feel as if it effected my testing. One major concept I do like is not having one large test at the end of a unit. Instead having various smaller tests focused on key points. This is easier for the students since it is so focused but they still have to prove that they have mastery of the content.

Brittany R.
This chapter focused on tests and the questions that teachers give their students. I can remember countless times were I literally read a test question, looked up at my neighbor, and said, “is this a joke?” As a student, it is the worst feeling in the world to get a test you have spent weeks studying for and not have any idea what the question is asking. It’s frustrating and demeans the student. I still to this day have professors that seem to be giving good lectures and I will take great notes, read notes and my text but then I get the test and am completely clueless. Test questions should be clear and to the point so students don’t waste time guessing what the teacher is trying to get out of them. Also, I agreed with the author when timing tests were mentioned. No matter how confident I was going into the test, the second I got a time limit my confidence went out the window. As I have stated many times before, all students are different and it may take a little bit longer for the synapses in the brain to connect for the student to answer a test question. In high school, the valedictorian of my class was the longest test taker I have ever seen. There’s nothing wrong with it, she just needed more time to get her point across. In my class I want to steer clear of time limits. If I create straight forward questions on test and other evaluations, there shouldn’t be a need for a time limit.

Emily H.
Creating good test questions can be difficult for teachers to do. We get stuck in just thinking of the typical questions that we think tests should be. This is not necessarily the right way to go about it making test questions. We tend to make questions that are too difficult to answer in the allotted. It is hard for students to create answers to questions that are unclear and hard for them to come up with an answer. It is our job as teacher to make test questions that are not too easy that it’s just repeating what was memorized, but to make questions that let students show their knowledge. Simple true and false can be used, but instead of having the students write a “t” or “f” those could be provided for the student to just circle. This way when we are grading we can clearly see which answer was chosen. This chapter has a lot of helpful tips for making an effective test for our students. Test making is something that I am nervous about doing because I do not have to make a really hard test. Also I am nervous that if I ask the right questions my students will not be able to answer them. I would feel like my lessons were not accomplished anything. The tips in this chapter will help me in the figure out how to make the perfect test for my students. Test will probably be a rare thing in my class because I do not really like the idea of giving students a test to figure out how much they have learned. It is a high pressure situation that effects how they show that they learned something. I would lean more towards doing projects to show they have learned things from my lessons and units.

**Jackson F.**
Coming up with test can be fun but a teacher must keep the students in mind when creating it. A teacher is not to cleverly stump his/her students. Instead come up with good creative questions which will show students growth in the content area. The other thing to keep in mind is keeping the test well organized. Making test confusing helps nobody, kids have a harder time testing which will in turn make it harder to grade. Keeping everything organized makes testing easier on everyone. One way to keep things all organized is by having an answer sheet in a way to have all the answers on one sheet of paper that way the teacher can just go through an answer key. When creating a test it is also important to use authentic questions to get students to think about how the question relates to their lives. Last of all make test fun, put some humor in it, put students into the questions, or make questions that involve having fun answers. Grading was something that as a student I never really had to worry about. I have had my share of good and bad test. As a student most would prefer multiple choice questions because then there is 25% chance of getting the answer right however the other forms of questions prove our knowledge a little more. After reading this chapter it makes me wonder what kind of test I will give. I also wonder how might I make my test fun for students. Its is weird to think that a test could be made fun but I believe it is entirely possible as long as the right questions are asked to provoke the minds of the students.

Joe S.
This chapter discusses the process of creating good assessments prompts and questions. The author introduces many different types of questions, and how to use each method to its full extent, or without flaws that could make questions unnecessarily difficult for the wrong reasons. For example, it is recommended to refrain from using confusing negatives in multiple-choice questions, as students may trip up on their wording, which would not asses their knowledge of the intended martial. A few things that made an impact on me were including common errors as candidates for responses, putting fun into test questions, making questions authentic to the instruction, and formatting tests for efficient grading. Each of these made a lot of sense, and truly display student knowledge and understanding of important components. For example, to include common errors as possible answers ensures student recognition of correct methods, keeping questions interesting keeps students engaged, keeping questions authentic to the instruction ensures students are not surprised by questions they were not taught to expect, and formatting tests to allow for efficient grading makes my job a lot easier. Later in the chapter, the author recommends using smaller tests that focus on less elements of curriculum, to allow for a better assessment of student understanding. I agree with this idea, as too much information being assessed at once is difficult for students to remember, and makes students nervous. The author calls for an increased amount of smaller tests. The last matter discusses in the chapter is to ensure students receive feedback in a timely manner. This ensures that the students understand mistakes they may have made while information is still fresh in their minds, and encourages better understanding.

Nicole C.
This chapter focused on test questions: how to create them, what they should look like, and what will actually help you, the teacher, determine that they are accurately assessing your students’ understandings. One suggestion it gave was to use a variety of questions and prompts – making sure that there are a variety of traditional items, non-traditional items, forced choice questions, and constructed response questions. This not only makes it more interesting for the students, but helps the teacher get a better sense of the students’ mastery over the subject. There were a lot of helpful suggestions on what to do and what not to do – keep it short, make it fun, avoid timed tests when possible, etc. Common sense, mostly. I will definitely keep all of that in mind when creating tests in the future. One section of the chapter that I thought was interesting was the recommendation that we format our tests for efficient grading. I could make an answer sheet so I have to take less home, or submit answers online to save paper, or even format true/false tests into a pattern. I have to be careful that my students don’t figure out that pattern on their own though! Lastly, the chapter stressed the importance of giving helpful, prompt feedback after every assessment. It’s all about student learning after all, and feedback helps them on their way. = =

Phillip C.
I liked the line in this chapter that stated “every test question should be important enough to ask and clear enough to answer.” This is a motto I could see me posting on the wall of my classroom. The example question they gave was an infuriating example of a question typically found on an SAT exam or other standardized test. It takes more time to work out the connotations of each answer than it does to select the “most” correct one. I would rather see a student write down their thinking about the answer like Raul’s thoughts were displayed and grade that. The entire chapter talked about how to make good test questions. I really liked that adding common mistakes was included. I always thought that this was a great way to see who really understood and retained information. Another section I really liked was putting fun into the questions. Including students names will always get a few chuckles and add interest so I plan on doing that. I also think that funny options that are clearly wrong can be included on questions that have common mistakes in the multiple choice. This will relax students and narrow down their options. The final idea that I really liked and I want to use in my class is using smaller assessments over the course of the year rather than one large one at the end. This is for several reasons. One is that students will have enough stress preparing for other finals. Another is that one bad test day won’t ruin the students overall grade. Finally it allows for deeper assessment of material because it doesn’t all have to be included on one exam.

Clayton P.
This chapter also conveniently does what its title suggests: “Creating Good Test Questions.” Throughout my life as a student, I know all too well about good and bad test questions. The author then conveniently uses examples of hypothetical test questions that were, for lack of a better term, absurd in their wording. He then presents some options to try and avoid writing absurdly worded questions into an exam. The first piece of advice the author offers is to use a variety of questions and prompts. Using both prompts and questions enable us as teachers to get a better understanding of a student’s mastery of a subject. By using both formats, it is also a useful way to differentiate instruction and find out which students respond to prompts better, and which students respond to questions better. The author also recommends making exams efficient for students. He suggests printing a “T/F” at the end of a “True/False” statement to avoid having to deal with messy handwriting. In addition, when writing a fill-in-the-blank statement, it is recommended by students and teachers alike to place the blank at the end of the statement to avoid reading comprehension issues. It is also important to bold key terms when giving instructions on how to respond to items on an exam. This is another invaluable chapter. It provides some of the most helpful advice when trying to come up with an effective test for future students. The fact that many of these methods for formulating test questions come from students is a testament to how important it is to write questions and prompts that make sense.

Meng H.
This chapter covered how to create good test questions. There are different types of tests and questions. “Traditional” and “not-so-traditional” questions, “forced choice” and “constructed response” questions are all part of a test. The key to a good test design is having a mixture of these questions that are well designed based on learning goals. Well designed questions don’t mean that we can’t use multiple choices, true or false, or fill in the blank. What really matters is that the questions are efficient and clear, not because we want to make them easier for the students, but we want to ensure students will be able to show what skills and knowledge that they attained in the class. Assessing students’ learning should be the goal of the test instead of making it difficult to accomplish what the test is supposed to do.

I found it interesting that this chapter also includes how to design a test that is easy to grade. It gives examples of how to make patterns out of answer key for multiple choice and true or false questions. As a teacher, I like the idea of easy grading, but I don’t want to risk the chance that some students figure out the pattern of the answer key and the whole purpose of assessing will be ruined. I also liked the “double recording of test responses,” because that’s what we did in China. Except that it wasn’t the teacher’s idea, we students did it on our own so we can figure out our score right after we hand the test in. I like this idea also because it provides instant feedback when the teacher goes through the test, so the test will serve as a tool for improving learning.

In math class, I think the “forced choice” questions are still applicable if designed right.

Tyler R.
What I learned from this chapter is that there are many possibilities that a teacher can make to make a simple test question much more difficult than it has to be. The first example of a poor test question seemed pretty straightforward at first, but then the way that Raul described his thought process through the question was rather disturbing, especially since he had to make the decision to move on and leave it blank. As a future teacher I want my students to be able to answer a clear and precise question with a clear and precise answer. However, I believe it is important to make some of the other options, (provided that the assessment is multiple choice or some different option answer), close to the answer. If a teacher makes a test about the Dark Age and one question on the multiple choices is about something during the Dark Age and the rest relate to more modern time, then was the student really ever assessed? That is why I would want at the very least two of the multiple choice options to be close to the actual answer, so that the student has to truly think it over first and not just answer based off of time period. As I continue to read about assessments it is becoming more and more obvious to me that designing these assessments takes much more work than what the student will be doing while taking them. As a future teacher I will make sure that I have dedicated plenty of time to constructing meaningful and differentiated assessments for my students.