Day 2: Midterms

Day 2:
Agenda-
Homeroom
Class: Pre AP Sophomores
Class: Mythology
Class: AP Lit Seniors
Lunch
Prep Period

Today the two English classes that run year-long had midterms. The kids were all fairly quiet and well behaved while taking the test and while waiting for their classmates to finish. It was obviously a pretty boring day since all we did was administer the tests, walk around checking on kids and grade. We got all the tests thus far graded. None of the kids got every single question right which surprised me. I would have thought that at least one of them would have gotten them all right. Nobody in the sophomore class got an A. This also surprised me I would have thought that at least one would. My mentor suggested that it is probably because the kids just haven’t developed the studying skills yet. I wonder though. I don’t remember ever really doing any learning on how to study. We did a lot of test prep in the AP classes to get ready for the AP tests and we did a lot of test prep in 8th grade for the MEAs. But I don’t remember ever actually being told how to study. I wonder if maybe we shouldn’t assume kids know. Maybe this is something we need to teach more formally and specifically. I know it is hard to do though because people study and learn differently but teachers already have to take into account the different ways kids learn. This shouldn’t be any different. Besides, what purpose do midterms serve anyway? Are they actually testing kids on what they know or are they testing kids on how to take a test? I feel like it is more the last one. And that may be an important skill to have if you plan on taking more tests later but I am much more concerned about making sure they learn the material. Maybe it is just me being biased because I hated midterms and finals in high school because of how much they could hurt my grade. I just remember working hard all year in my hard classes to get an A and then taking the test and having it drop me down to a B. How is that fair? I didn’t see any of that happening to the kids in these classes today luckily but I think that it is still a valid point How is it ok that one test can ruin your hard work you did all year?