It is the time of yearwhen my students
wrap up their studies,
and when they trudge
into halls to be examined.
How much have they learned,
can they prove it,
and does the measuring
mean something?
As a younger man
I was more assured.
Terse instructions,
open ended questions,
blue books,
a savage and bold penmark
to set the grade.
As an older man, though,
I'm less secure in it.
I've seen excellent students
stumble on exam day,
while others float
above the misery that
often accompanies testing.
Do I know what questions to ask?
Does my testing test the right things?
Is the examination in the right form at all?
Large room, Scantrons, some scribbles.
(Results come out in certainities
of 94s and 85s. It used to comfort me.)
Should I rest between semesters
knowing I've done things the right way?
Or should I ask for more of myself,
Or should I ask for more of myself,
of my students, even of my college?
Could I ask the Dean for a smaller class
so I could offer oral exams at semester end?
Would I be sent out on a rail?
I WANT to give oral exams to my students. I'd much prefer it. Who do I talk to about getting smaller classes?
ReplyDeleteI am against "final" exams. I have devalued my own final to 5% of the semester. Too many people - I think - put too much pressure on the undergrads at the end of the term. Honest to goodness freakouts should not negate 16 weeks of good work.
ReplyDeleteRichard, I suggest you see a psychiatrist. You have -serious- problems with anxiety, and it wouldn't surprise me if they're affecting your job performance.
ReplyDeleteUm, Frod, I think he's channeling Prufrock.
ReplyDeletePrufrock had problems with anxiety too!
ReplyDeleteI love Bernice's strategy. I don't know why I've never thought of it.
ReplyDeleteAnd Marcia is right...Tingle is all about the Prufrock. "Do I dare to eat a peach?"
I am against "final" exams.
ReplyDeleteI'm not, but then in my field all exams are cumulative. (If they're not in your field, what sort of field is it anyhow?)
What I do is weight all exams equally, including the final. Then the lowest-scoring exam is dropped.
At the end of the semester, students can see their current course grade and their lowest exam score, and decide whether to take the final exam.
I also offer a carrot: because all exams are cumulative, "substantial improvement" (which I get to define, no appeals) on the final exam will increase their course grade.
Of course, with that last policy, you get people like one e-mail I'm avoiding responding to, who has bombed all three exams, has shown by her performance on quizzes and homework that she's not learning the material at all, and wants me to provide extra problem sets so she can study for the final... Aargh.
OK, well, Frod, I'm going to have to say this: my point was that you can't diagnose a fictional character. All papers claiming that "Edna Pontellier was just depressed" or "Captain Ahab had some serious anger management issues" get an F.
ReplyDeleteBesides, where I come from it's impolite to offer a diagnosis of someone's mental health unless they explicit ask you to do so. At least to their face.
Explicitly. Sigh. I am getting seriously senile, she says, diagnosing herself.
ReplyDelete