Day 4- Learning from Grading

Day 4 was on Friday the 22nd, but I had a busy weekend, so here I am on Sunday night finally getting around to posting an update.

Carrie and I spent most of Friday grading chapter 13 exams for the two of the classes we will be teaching... and it was more difficult than we expected. Most of the test had a clear-cut answer key to it, but the four questions with written answers presented us with some challenges. Our supervising teacher told us what he was looking for in the answers, but sometimes you have to really read into what a student writes in order to judge whether or not they have understood and answered the question. Carrie and I had lots of little conferences to ask, "What grade would you give this?" and "What do you think of what this student wrote?" Grading these exams allowed us to see where our students are in terms of writing "essay" answers. Some are excellent and some are not quite excellent. It is our hope that all students will know how to compose a good short essay by the end of the next nine weeks. Grading also helped us realize that our lives will be much easier if we make detailed rubrics for both the students and ourselves; when it comes to grading, the expectations will be much clearer if everyone has a rubric to which they can refer. Looking at tests and assignments are a good way to interpret not only what the students know, but how effective your teaching was, so I am sure we will be using tests and assignments frequently to reflect on these issues throughout the internship.