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| Early Thirsty! |
I'm giving our midterm today.
Whatever happened to: "The instructor did not dismiss me so I should not assume that it's time to go."
How many of them will stay? How many of them will assume it's okay to leave? And...
Q: How many of them will go bitching to the Dean because I didn't tell them that class was not getting out early?
Nope, test over, class over. Unless it's a shortened semester, then we resume after a break. But I try to schedule something after a test that's "fun" or otherwise can grab the attention of students tired from studying...
ReplyDeleteFlip it. Cover material the first hour and test them the second hour.
ReplyDeleteOr tell them to stick around and be absolutely certain to cover material that will be explicitly on the next test. Whether you tell them it will be or not is up to you, though.
I had this problem for a couple of semesters. A class that I usually teach twice a week for 75 minutes at a time, was scheduled instead to run once a week, for 2 hours 45 minutes.
ReplyDeleteMy mid-term was designed as a 75-minute test, but I didn't want to lose the other 75 minutes altogether. I have enough trouble getting through all my material as it is.
In these long classes, I usually give the students a 10 minute break in the middle of the lesson, and I decided to just do the same thing.
I made clear to the class that, while they could leave the room if they finished the exam early, they should also return to the classroom at the end of the regular 10-minutes break period (i.e., after 85 minutes of class), because we would be having a regular lesson in the second half of the period.
A few slunk off and never came back (and I recorded their names as absent for the second half), but most returned for the lesson. I hadn't asked them to do any reading of their own, because they were studying for the exam, so I just gave a lecture.
The next semester, I did something similar, but instead of giving a lecture on content related to the course, I devoted the second half of the lesson to talking about writing. As any College Misery regular knows, one of the biggest problems we face these days is students who don't know how to write. While I'm not supposed to be a composition teacher, I figured that it couldn't hurt to spend a bit of in-class time pointing out some of the problems that were cropping up in students' written work.
My answer would be: make the test two hours.
ReplyDeleteI think the best answers have already been given: either make the test cover the full class period or else teach first and examine second. But even the latter seems unlikely to be very successful as they'll be fidgety about the exam. I just don't think it's reasonable to expect students to stay mentally alert immediately after a midterm. That'd be a lot to ask of a professor, let alone an undergraduate.
ReplyDeleteI don't think teaching first is a good idea. It's tough to try to learn new material while frantically trying to remember everything you've studied for the exam.
ReplyDeleteWhen I'm giving quizzes (say, 20-45 minutes in a 3-hour class), I give them at the beginning of course and then lecture afterwards. For mid-terms and finals, I generally give them the entire class period.
I've seen that in action when I've evaluated peers. If teaching goes on before a test, inevitably the students are so distracted by trying to go over their notes and attempt to keep whatever knowledge they've crammed into their heads there that they really don't pay attention to anything else that's going on.
DeleteI agree with the idea of longer tests that take the whole period or close to it rather than letting them go too early.
I have just given up on keeping them (if only because even if they're there in body, their minds are gone) for the second half. Besides, I always have one or two who need time and a half or double time, so now I give a take-home portion for them to work on (usually research for their next paper or presentation) during the second half of class that they have to be accountable for next time.
ReplyDeleteI've learned from experience to examine first, teach afterwards, from teaching a multitude of 3 hour evening courses where a midterm worth 15% warrants only an hour, and there's no way I can lose 2 hours of lecture time and still get through all the material in term. I just make sure the week before that it is made clear to them that there is a lecture afterwards.
ReplyDeleteDitto here. The last time I taught a 3 hour night class, gave the midterm first, gave them a break, then came back the second half with material they hadn't had to read for, but would help them with the reading yet to come. Seemed to work pretty well.
DeleteYou know, I was going to say teach first, but I am convinced now that letting them know class will commence at 1:30 or whenever allows them to go get a cup of coffee or something after the test is over and (hopefully) allow them to return refreshed and ready to conquer the new material.
ReplyDelete