TESTS, part 1

The football team huddled around the coach, waiting for his guidance as they planned next Friday's decisive game against their rivals.

He stood before them in silence, waiting until they all had been silent for more than a few seconds.

"Guys," he said, "we all know Friday night is going to be tough. That team is good. They run well, they throw well, and they will come at us from every direction. But don't worry, I've scouted them well, and I know every single play they're going to run. I know when they're going to pass, when they're going to run, and every tricky play they think might fool us.....

So you better be ready. Expect anything. If you fail, it is all on you." And he turned around and walked away.

To me, that sounds like an arrogant and yet incompetent coach. He knows everything the opponent will try, but he doesn't offer his team any assistance in preparation. All he says is, "be ready." A coach who knows the opponent's plays and game plan, and who doesn't specifically prepare his team to face that, is not doing his job.

When I take my class into a test, it is my job to see to it that the students are as prepared and informed as they can be. I owe it to them to review thoroughly and specifically for every challenge they will face. Just like the coach, I need to get my team ready for the big match against that chapter test, mid-term, or final exam. It is the opponent, and I know every single thing about it because I wrote it. For me to say, "this test will have a few surprises, and you better be ready" is just as dumb as for the coach to say, "yeah, they have some trick plays, but I'm not going to tell you what they are....just be ready!"

Reviewing for a test needs to be a process that helps every student know what's going to be asked. There are lots of ways to do that, from playing review games in class, being certain that the specific information to be covered on the test is in the game, all the way to simply providing the questions ahead of time.

REVIEW GAMES

In the course of my career, I've used a lot of games. Some have been based on sports, like "vocabulary baseball" or once, in the middle of the first video gaming craze in the 1980's, I made up a game called "Galg, the Destroyer" in which a fantasy monster attacked bits of a gameboard and added an element of strategy to an otherwise routine review day. Neither one of the games mentioned above lasted long with me, although "Galg" still lives in the repetoire of one of my colleagues, who was a student of mine when Galg was invented.

Here are my favorite review games:

1--The all-time best review game ever, in my opinion, is "Stump the Panel."

In this game, the panel consists of 3 or 4 students who either volunteer or are "drafted" in a number of ways. They cannot use their notes, but they can collaborate when asked questions related to the information under study. The class is their opponent, and of course, the goal of the class is to stump the panel. The teacher acts as judge as to the suitability of the question.

Using their notes, class members can ask the panel any question the teacher permits. The panel can then talk it over and submit an answer within a given amount of time. If the answer is correct, the panel scores a point. If the panel cannot answer, or if their answer is incorrect, the person in the class must then give the correct answer, and the class scores a point.

The first side, either the class or the panel, to reach 4 points, wins. If the panel wins, they are excused from the panel and can name their replacements from those class members who have not yet been panelists. If the class wins, the panel has to stay up front for another round. However, after two rounds on the panel, there's a "mercy rule" which permits the class to vote one panelist off the panel. That person gets to name his or her own replacement, again from those who have not yet served. If the panel loses again, the "mercy rule" again comes into force, and again one of the most senior members of the panel should be excused.

The teacher will find that as the class members pore over their notes, they will glean all kinds of information and will ask very tough questions. Even so, it's possible that not all the information that's on the test will be covered. With 5 minutes to go in the class, the teacher should excuse the last panel and cover anything with the class that hasn't been asked or discussed during the game.

2--SURVIVOR--(But not like the TV show!)

I was playing this game long before the TV show came out. In this game, each row in the class is a team. In my classroom, there are six rows. I have prepared ahead of time a list of questions that I want to be sure to cover in the review. I'll tell the class that the way to survive into the next round is to answer two questions correctly. I'll ask a question and then call on whoever I think got his/her hand up first. Careful, though, because a wrong answer locks out your row until the question is answered. Even if someone else in your row knows, it's too late! If a student raises his/her hand in the middle of the question, I stop reading it and call on them. If they correctly guessed the question and provide the right answer, their row scores a point, but if they're wrong, they're locked out until the next question.

Ultimately, as a row gets the required two questions, they survive and go on to the next round. One row, however, will not make it, and will be eliminated. A new round begins, and row after row are eliminated until only one row is left. Now that row is divided in half. If it doesn't divide evenly, (say there are 5 students in the row,) the front 3 students become one team, and the back 2 get to draft anyone from any of the eliminated rows to come back into the game as a "2nd chance" player. Now it's 3 against 3. Either the front or the back half of the row will survive.

Of the 3 survivors, the front 2 will play against the back 1, who again gets to invite a "2nd chance" player. It's 2 against 2. Again, one team survives and the other is eliminated.

Now, it's 1 against 1. Who will be the Survivor? Whoever it is, the prize needs to be attractive. I often make it an automatic 100% on the test, unless it's a major test like a final exam.

MAYHEM

When I have a vocabulary list, or a spelling test, or other kind of "short answer" quiz or test coming up, and I have colleagues who don't mind the noise, this game can be a lot of fun. We make each row a team, but then clear the classroom of desks and just make rows of chairs. The first person in each row becomes "flight 1," followed by "flight 2," and so on. It might be necessary to move a student or two to try to get the teams as equally-sized as possible.

What happens next may have to be seen to be fully understood. Flight 1 is up. The students must be seated in the front row of chairs. I ask a question, and as they think they might know the answer, the students get up from their chairs, rush to the board, and write the answer as quickly as they can. First right answer scores 5 points, second one scores 3, and third scores 1.

They go to the back row, everyone moves up, and now it's "Flight 2" time. Again I ask a question while they're seated, then they get up, rush to the board, and begin writing.
The process continues for each flight, and then the point values go up.

This game is a lot of fun and people will laugh and shout and have a great time. It's very important, though, to make strict ground rules against physical contact and other unsportsmanlike behavior. Some kids will not understand the limits and unless you are on your guard, the more competitive ones might try things like snatching chalk or whiteboard pens out of each others' hands, and so on. Make sure there's plenty of writing equipment for everyone, and that people stay under control. I also have a point penalty for failing to erase what you have written before returning to your seat. I only use this game 1 to 2 times a year, but it's a favorite among the students.

WRITING A TEST

It's your job to know the difference between trivial items and the facts and concepts that really are important. If you know why you taught a certain lesson, you should know which questions belong on a test and which ones don't. Tests are supposed to reinforce the important things you taught and give students an opportunity to show you that they now have a grasp of them. As you prepare to write your test, think about these things:

1--What's the MOST important things someone should know or be able to do after sitting in my classroom for the past time period?

2--How can I measure whether students really know these?

Then write your test based on your answers to these questions.

There are lots of ways to test. In a future installment, I plan to talk more about this topic.

Mike

"EXTRAS" ARE NOT EXTRA

The so-called "extra-curriculars" of my career have been among the most rewarding aspects of anything I've done over the course of 30 years.

As the coach of the chess team, I've built many, many lifelong friendships with students, and there's nothing that compares with the joy of working together and winning championships, and, years later, of sitting together and reminiscing.

After teaching for 20 years, I sat down to consider what I thought might be the 10 Greatest Moments of my teaching career so far. I wasn't sure what I would discover, but when the list was complete, I was surprised to find that only one or two of them had happened inside my classroom. Instead, the list was full of things that happened in other places. This taught me something--that the so-called "Extras" are not extra at all. For me to have an enjoyable career, the "extras" were critically important.

I now consider the 10 "mountain top" moments of my teaching career. Join me, if you please, and see if together we can learn anything.

10--Being selected to deliver inspirational speeches at 2 different Veterans' Days assemblies
9--Working with Cottage Grove's city government to ensure that young people will be involved in the running of the city, through the Youth Advisory Committee and the placement of a student as a non-voting member of the city council.
8--Designing and implementing the Human Resources Certificate of Advanced Mastery Program
7--Putting together and seeing succeed "mock trial" experiences for my Law classes
6--Taking the 2006 Chess Team to nationals in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
5--Field trips to see former president Ford in 1980, and future president Clinton in 1992
4--Being trusted to teach Ethics, and then successfully doing it
3--Taking the 1988 Chess Team to nationals in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and taking 4th place in the nation in our division
2--Leading busloads of enthusiastic students to the 1992, 96, and 2000 Model Political Conventions in Portland
1--Coaching the Lion Chess teams of 2003, 4, 5, 6, and 7 to five straight district titles and, at this writing, 48 straight league matches without a loss.

Wow. Out of those things, only a couple actually took place in my classroom. The others involved the so-called "extras."

The lesson here, is that at least for me, my career would have been much less rewarding, exciting, and fun if I had been one of those who was satisfied with staying in my room. Instead, I'm glad that I left the room and found other things to do with my students.

For me, the "extras" were anything but extra. They gave my career color and joy that I never would have experienced without them.

Let's Get Started

Hi,

My teaching career is almost over. By my count, at this writing, I have 20 weeks left to be a teacher at Cottage Grove High School. During the past 29+ years, I have learned a few things about teaching, and I want to take some time to share them with those of you who might be interested. For those who stick with me, you will read about things I think I did right, and things I think I did wrong, but in the end, it isn’t about me. It’s about teaching, and much of it is about things I wish I had known when I began, things I had to learn the hard way. Maybe by reading them, some of you will be spared the pain that came when I learned them. Some of the things I’ll write are things that other staff members already know; in fact, they’re way better at them than I ever was.

Some of what I have to say will be purely pedagogical, but some, like today’s item, will have to do with the emotion and passion of teaching. I felt it would be appropriate to start with one of the most important things of all.

If you’re still reading, I hope you enjoy the first installment.

ATTITUDE

It was a crummy, no-good Thursday morning. The day began with an alarm that barged into a good dream, calling me to another morning of driving 25 miles in the pouring rain to work in the leaky and musty-smelling classroom that was Room 21 in the old high school.

The sky was still dark; there wasn’t a hint of daylight. The car’s feeble beams barely illuminated the freeway; the rain fell hard that day, and the windshield wipers swung back and forth in dull repetition making it just barely possible to see.

The day before had not gone well. The lessons hadn’t hit home. The students were clearly not engaged. Morale among staff members was low, and among students it was even lower. The winter had brought a feeling that everyone simply needed to hunker down in order to survive. The students had essentially offered the “silent” contract.

“If you don’t bother us, we won’t bother you, and everyone can get along.”

The mileposts went by, and with each one, a pain in my stomach began to grow.

I don’t really know or understand what happened next. I just suddenly knew something that I hadn’t really thought about before, and it changed everything for me.

I think it was the thought that it was so hard to see where I was going, I might as well be blind, because the very next thought was, “you know, there are millions of blind people out there who would give everything they have just to see what you see.” And then came, “there are poor people all over the world that would love to have the car you’re driving right now.” And then, “there are thousands of unemployed teachers who would love to have your job, and to get to know and work with your kids.”

Then it came in a flood. “You have ears that can hear. You can walk and run. You have a mind that can grasp difficult concepts. You can be articulate. You have things of value and importance to teach your students. You get to work with wonderful colleague who really care about the kids and doing their jobs as well as they possibly can.”

By the time I got to work, I could barely wait to get into a somehow less musty-smelling Room 21 and begin setting up the day’s work. There was a new enthusiasm, a new determination that today would be different, and it was! I discovered that my gratitude for what I had, and for what I could do, could translate into passion in my classroom, and it became the basis for everything that has happened since then.

Now, no matter what the circumstances, I pause and consider “Thankful Thursday.” Each week, I make it a point to think about what is good in my life, what is good in my career, what is good about my school, what is good about my classes, and it has made a huge difference. Often, I tell my students about “Thankful Thursdays,” because I think it’s very powerful to count your blessings. Now, if I don’t mention “Thankful Thursday”, kids come up to me and remind me that it’s a day to be aware of the good things of life.

Since adopting this approach, it’s amazing how many more things I find to appreciate, to enjoy, and to laugh about. I’ve gone from feeling bad about a lot of things to realizing that yes, I can work on some of them, but at the same time, keeping a proper perspective about things will cause me to do better, and feel better. When I feel better, I approach every aspect of my work more positively.

It’s all a matter of attitude.