FIAE+B1+Chapter+6



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Brody- Synthesis
**Abstract:** The sixth chapter of //Fair Isn’t Always Equal// focuses on creating fair, effective test questions for students. Wormeli suggests avoiding double negatives, using a wide array of questions, keeping tests short by omitting similar questions, and making questions authentic to the learning. If assessments are going to be true indicators of student learning, then all obstacles need to be taken out. Otherwise, teachers will undermine the whole purpose of giving the assessment. A test is not the appropriate place to give students a trick question just to see how they react. Multiple-choice questions need to be worded so there isn’t more than one answer that could be correct. True or false questions need to include circling the words for accountability purposes. Essay questions need to be included for those that favor linguistic approaches to learning. In general, tests need to have multiple types of questions to support differentiated instruction while providing clear questions so students can best display their knowledge in this differentiated setting.

**Synthesis:** After reading everyone’s blog entries for the sixth chapter of //Fair Isn’t Always Equal//, it is evident that we have all had experiences with trick questions and believe they have no place in the classroom. In particular, many of us brought up the issue of the validity of multiple choice questions. Possible multiple-choice answers often vary only slightly and can be confusing and unclear. These questions are not [|effective assessments], as they ask students to hone their skills in interpreting what the teacher would most likely be looking for. One solution that I liked was when one classmate mentioned the strategy of having students write after the multiple choice answer explaining their choice. Thus, the teacher can see if there were common thinking patterns among the students and ponder if the question was simply worded wrong. Many of us were also interested in true or false questions. A few of us thought that circling T’s and F’s were more efficient than having students write in true or false on blank lines only to have them approach the teacher later to say that they “wrote the right word.” In addition, there was a noticeable split on the likeability of true or false questions. One of my classmates finds true or false questions to be unclear as they could go either way while another classmate finds them to be relaxing. This just further proves the chapter’s point that tests need to cater to all types of learners who show their knowledge in different ways. Teachers need to be cognizant of these differences when [|designing tests] so students can focus on a question’s meaning instead of focusing on the question’s wording. ===

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Brittany
As a former and current student I would like to thank Rick Wormeli for writing a chapter about making tests that do not play games or waste a student’s time. It is true that trick questions or multiple choice questions with answers that vary only slightly drive students nuts! I am going to make a contract with myself and who ever reads this that I will avoid such questions on any test or quiz that I create. The other really good idea that I liked was to give space after a multiple choice question for the students to write why they chose that answer over the other ones. It gives the students the ability to show the teacher that they do know the material but they may have gotten confused by the answer choices. Now, I do not count using words that look like they mean the same thing but in the context of the question they do not. That is a curve ball that a student who knows that material will be able to overcome and not a mean trick that is only meant to confuse them until their heads hurt. We as teachers are there to see what the student knows and not to play mind games with them.

Max
I absolutely hate when teachers give tests that have trick questions on them. Tests are supposed to assess whether or not you understood the material that the teacher presented. True or false questions are a good example of this. I got a lot of these in history classes and they would have questions that could go either way so you would guess and that is just a waste of time. You need to let the students show you that they understood the work and give them a fair chance. Giving students random facts and changing the wording a little bit does not show that. In math, I don’t think I will waste much time on my assessments. I will give problems that if the student understands the material will be able to do. I won’t have to worry about giving them true or false questions.

Seth
Tests… Like you said in class today (3/1), when that word is mentioned a lot of people tense up. Personally, I’m not one of them but I did roll my eyes when I read the title of the chapter. From time to time, des temps en temps, I don’t mind a simple multiple choice test but it gets to be too easy. Kids can learn word association and just remember that this word goes with this term or that this goes with that. Although it’s a good way to get students to remember dates and events, short answer questions are the way to go. While at UMF I have had to write so many short and open ended (also a **very** good tool) answers I thought my head was going to explode. But, like the professor(s) wanted, I retained the information. While in high school oh so many years ago, a lot of my teachers had confusing terminology on the test as mentioned in the book; “All of the above except for C and E” (78) and I also had a situation where professors unknowingly gave away answers by misusing a/an as mentioned on page 79. So what can we do? Follow the book. Make sure the questions on the test meet the test objective, format tests for efficient grading, include special questions and tier questions (82-85). Do this and your tests will be awesome… but students still won’t like them.

Leighlan
Students are different, if the questions on your test are different formats you give a grater amount of them a chance to succeed. All questions should say something unique about the student’s learning and it should not be tedious to write out the answer, quality not quantity. Letting students keep the questions helps them know exactly what they did if they got it wrong because the process is still in their head. The language on tests should be just as clear and specific as the students answer should be. Tests should be just as high quality as the answers to the individual questions, if you ask a vague question you get a vague answer. This stuff is basically applying logic and efficiency to tests. Tests are made to be efficient, too often they are not. These guidelines can also be used for different kinds of tests, if you’re a scientist you want an efficient experiment just as much as a doctor wants speedy and accrete medical tests.

Brody
We’ve all experienced those confusing test questions in school. You know the ones. Instructions may say “choose the best answer.” However, how are you supposed to know what the teacher considers the “best” answer? Is there one specific word to look out for? These questions should never go through a student’s head. According to Wormeli, three vital factors must influence how we design test questions. First, questions need to be clear and easily understood. Use straightforward questions and provide parameters to clarify what is expected of students. Include how many examples are necessary to support an argument, how long an essay needs to be, and how much time should be allotted. When the teacher rids of confusing variables, students can clearly focus on transferring their knowledge to the assessment. Second, differentiate tests and quizzes in accordance to readiness levels. This didn’t seem fair to me at first as I wondered how grading would be perceived. Upon further thought however, assessment needs to be personalized to discover a student’s own growth, not their score in comparison to the rest of the class. Learning is personal and students don’t grow at the same pace. Lastly, feedback needs to be given to students as quickly as possible. One of Wormeli’s propositions ascertains students’ thought processes in relation to mastery by asking that they explain multiple-choice responses. In this instance, the teacher can use the tests as a formative assessment to see if there were common problems amongst the class that needs attending to in future lessons. Formulating clear test questions is vital as a Social Studies teacher as many students find the subject confusing enough with all the dates, facts, and people. There’s no use in making assessments more difficult than they need to be.

Lily
Chapter six provides a great concept in that all teachers need to incorporate in their classrooms, this is developing good questions that are traditional and non traditional. This might seem simple it is so essential. It is found that true or false questions that are incorporated on tests and quizzes also help in making the students relax more and feel at ease, these could replace some questions that are made to trick students and set them up to fail. Being straight forward with the students will help them learn, that is the goal. Having them guess and be stressed is only going to make them hate the subject.The main concept of this chapter is again, teaching for all learning styles and being able to be flexible in question making so that they are different, not just questions made for one learning type.

**Mike**
When reading this chapter I actually thought about the Praxis exam. I felt that the exam was designed to not to baffle students with the wording of questioning and more than one possible answer outcome, but it also a test that does not make myself or other college students feel comfortable. I feel that the questions that are on an exam should be designed to help a student showcase what they know. Even if a student was wrong if the students was to at least write a little blurb on the side to back up the answer then I would at least give them partial credit. It makes sense now that I have learned about various multiple intelligences that trick questions are basically a huge distraction on how well a student may do on a test. Questions that are direct whether they are true or false, multiple choice, or even short essay format should be simple and able to be targeted towards all learners.

**Jen**
As teachers our jobs seem difficult enough but when it comes to testing it can get a whole lot more difficult. It's important for us as future teachers to include questions that we really want to give students the opportunity to think and push further into the next level of thinking but also to make sure students aren't "bored" or feel like they are just reiterating the same information throughout the whole test, that's why I agree that it's important to have a variety of different questions. In the book it says we don't need so many of the same question, and I believe that to be true except for when it comes to math. I always feel like math is the subject where teachers should give more problems then they think they should because as as student I really needed the extra practice and it really would have helped me better. Another thing that struck me as the most important thing in this chapter was when students ask to get the test before they forget the information. I can relate because I was that student many times, I was a very good student, but I was also a memorizer and I don't know as much content of the academics because I memorized it long enough to transfer it onto the test and then I forgot it. This is the first sign that students aren't learning the material and I wish someone had caught that because by the time I really understood this and how "serious"it was it was too late. It's one of the most essential things that teachers need to focus on is connecting with all the students so that they are able to understand the material not just "remember" it for a test.

Kim
The scenario at the beginning of this chapter stuck out to me because I have faced similar questions many times in my schooling career. It is nothing less than frustrating when a teacher uses a question like that and then expects you to be able to read his or her mind. The part of the chapter that I found myself connecting my content area to is the section about root words and how it isn’t just a quiz asking students to spit out the definitions of the root words, but to use their knowledge of each root to define various words. As someone who waited until five minutes before the roots quiz to quickly memorize each definition, I think I would have preferred something more along the line of what the book suggests because it would have required me to put more effort into it. There were also some good points about making sure that the test questions and prompts are valid and that you aren’t inundating students with too many questions of one type. These seem like obvious points for teachers to consider, but in my experience at least, they are often overlooked, which makes it difficult for students to take the test to the best of their ability when there are other factors at play.

Casey
Chapter six was titled “Creating Good Test Questions” and that is exactly what the chapter offered. Wormeli made a good point that caught my eye, “Provide a “T” or “F” for students to circle on true/false questions. This way there will be no questions about how to interpret sloppy formed T’s and F’s.” This is such great advice! This has happened so much in my school experience. A student will approach a teacher and say that was supposed to be an F, and the teacher will assume that the student is just trying to get away with getting some extra points. Along with this, Wormeli suggested that we focus on not necessarily using traditional questions when assessing and giving assignments. I completely agree, I think that multiple choice, true/false, and matching all get very boring and redundant for students. They have these types of questions in a lot of their classes, and I think it would be good to add variety into how they are assessed.

Jasmyn
This chapter provides multiple ideas of how to create test that will identify mastery of a subject. In the interest of student and teacher it is best to have a variety of questions that will show understanding. Some questions should be essay questions (when appropriate), some “forced answer” questions and some can be multiple choice. While creating a test the assessor should keep in mind that the questions should not be vague, they should be kept somewhat short and not repeated, and most importantly the test should be presented in the same way that the lesson was taught. For example: as students are learning growth changes of the body with diagrams, it is best to assess them using the same diagrams and not a new one that they hadn’t seen while learning.

Kaitlyn Bartlett
Chapter 6 of Fair Isn't Always Equal gives a lot of good ideas to writing test questions. The two parts that really jumped out at me were using a variety of question and putting T's and F's on the test for students to circle. On many test that I've taken I've seen, true/false, fill in the blank, essay questions, but never any really new ways of testing the material. In this chapter the author gives really good example of different ways that you can spice up test questions that are useful for all subject areas. My favorite out of the box question that I really liked was having students write an analogy. I feel like this is a great way to see if they really understand what they are doing. As for true or false I never realized how simple teacher could made it on themselves if they just put in the T's and F's instead of writing blank lines for them. Students are tricky and will find way to confuse the teacher and this makes me feel like I would grade a little biased based on which student tried to trick me. If the student usually did well I would find myself justifying why I think that the student wrote the correct answer and vise verse.