My First Test

On Friday of this week I assigned my students my first test. It was half matching and half short answer and despite their grumbles and complaints about being assigned a test on a Friday, they did very well. I was pleased with the creativity and obvious thought put into their short answers. I even let them cross off one of the short answer questions they didn't want me to grade, and most of them did, but I read their answers anyway and was impressed. Most of my kids knew their stuff! Now, there was a healthy curve with 2 Ds, 5 Cs, 11 Bs, 8 As and 2 100%s, but that is the sign of a good test. A good test lets students show what they know and what they don't know. From this experience I learned that despite kids complaints about laboring over paper and pencil for an assessment, it is always better to get them thinking rather than letting them mindlessly attempt a multiple-guess test or try their luck at true or false questions. Now, it took me 1.5 hours to grade those tests and write detailed comments to each student, but in my mind, it was 1.5 hours well spent. Hopefully it is an appreciated effort.