Writing for Tests and Assessments

Writing for Tests and Assessments

Reader Response Chapter 10

Content Area Writing Text    

 

Tests, assessments, evaluations, no matter where you are in academia or in the workforce, there will always be a place for evaluating your knowledge. What I find fascinating is there are students that enjoy taking tests. They get excited for the day and prepare for every angle prior to test day. On the other end of the spectrum, there are those with test anxiety. These students are quite fearful of test days. It really doesn’t matter how they prepare as their fear can overwhelm their thought process and totally derail their possibility for a score that represents what they actually know. Then there is the student that crams the night before. Short term memory is taxed to the nth degree, the test is conquered and within a day or two, the information is forgotten.

 

While good study habits and solid preparation is the preferred route for test success, it is vital to have options to assess a students’ knowledge of a given unit. I’ve had students overly concerned about high marks in daily work and homework as it would allow them to “mess up” on a test and still get a good grade on the course. Is this what we are teaching students these days?

Daniels, Zemelman, and Steineke state that the reward is an external prize that fails to connect students to our subjects. So when we complain that kids care only about grades but not the real meat of what we are teaching, we need to recognize that the testing situation we put kids in only reinforces that flawed approach to learning. (pg 254) I couldn’t agree more. The emphasis to the student appears to be on the grade, NOT the learning. Too bad really as I think students would remember so much more if they weren’t burdened by the time consuming process of studying for and taking of tests.

 

On the backside of all this is needing to know exactly what the student has learned. Testing is probably inevitable. However, there are many ways to assess knowledge; the trick is quantifying it consistently with a letter grade. When there are 30 – 40 students in a classroom, the task of preparing a unit test is only outdone by the daunting task of grading that many tests. It’s no wonder teachers are tempted to take the easy way out with multiple choice answers that can be “scanned” by a machine. To truly identify student knowledge short answer and essay tests may be the best bet. Again, very time consuming and often difficult (less than perfect penmanship) yet allow students a place to explain an answer with a paragraph or two and it will be obvious if they have the concept down.

Students don’t usually like essay tests either. It puts them in a position to really know what they are taking about and to capture their thoughts, organize them properly, and then write them for a grade? “That’s a lot of work!” I like the piece in our text that referred to the F word. Yes essay tests can be fun. Offering options for writing can provide students a choice that fits their perspective on a key concept. And even better, a take home essay test. Not to be confused with a research paper or temptation trap for plagiarism but a chance to reflect and write without the pressure of a stopwatch. Be careful with this one as I can see that the answers maybe longer and more detailed which makes for extending grading timeframes.

 

As I read this chapter, I could help but ask myself about alterative tools for assessing knowledge. Turning the page brought me to my answer with the oral options. Many students “know” the material in a unit lesson. However, they struggle with proving it for a grade. Oral tests allow for a conversation between instructor and student. Low on pressure, high on content. Allowing the student to make handwritten outline style notes during the conversation will help them remember their thought and threads of the conversation. Once played out, allow time to organize and re-write for the grade portion. Not only will the student be more at ease, there are additional skills learned in the process while proving knowledge through writing.