Thursday, December 08, 2011

More From Memo 121



I have asked many times but I have not seen the exams of some teachers.  Please make sure I see your exams before you give it to your students.  We have talked about not putting 40 points of worth of long problems where students could receive partial credits.  I saw at least two exams with that.  Please make sure the part II/III of your exam contains no more than 32 points worth of questions so that we are on the same grade scale.
Teachers are supposed to do item analysis after every exam to see which questions students are still struggling with.  It is so much better to actually see the work they did.  This way, their strengths and deficiencies are obvious.  Marking a  geometry exam, for example, an incorrect multiple choice response will not show whether the problem was conceptual or algebraic and will do nothing to help the teacher correct the mistake.

The bottom line is that knowledge doesn't count, only exam grades.  The kids have got to get those 80's or the school will not look good.

(There is something inherently wrong with having to show your supervisor every exam you give. Teachers are professionals and should be treated as such.  Just because an exam is typed, or neatly done as a cut and paste job does not mean it is a good exam.  The math department has over 30 teachers.  Mr. AP will not be able to go over every example on every teacher's exam to make sure the questions are good ones and some of the tests he will be passing off on will be barely satisfactory or unsatisfactory, so what is the point?)

4 comments:

burntoutteacher said...

At FDNY HS, because the administration and the network subscribe to the "Backward Planning" faux philosophy, teachers have to hand in exams 6 weeks ahead of time for approval. Everything, and I do mean everything, that is to be taught for the next 6 weeks MUST pertain to the already-created exam. In a subject like mine, English, this is absurd, as much that is done in class should reflect the students' interested/abilities/mastery and often can not be predicted 6 weeks ahead of time. If you are observed and not covering something that is on that exam, it is yet another reason for a U rating. And, if students do poorly, it is never the students' fault, but yours since you obviously either a) created a bad exam -- even though it has been pre-approved and/or b)you failed to teach what you were supposed to as defined by your own exam. It is a no-win situation for a teacher.

Anonymous said...

let him try and read all of those exams..the teachers should give him every single exam and make sure its piled VERY VERY high on the desk or stuffed in his mailbox..I bet he would be regretting that this memo and choice very quickly..

Also, the memo was grammatically off as well. .

Pissedoffteacher said...

No he won't because he won't bother to read most, just the ones of the teachers he is out to get. And,collecting them makes him look good.

His memos are always grammatically off.

Schoolgal said...

Love the pic that goes with this post.