What am I assessing? part 2

[ginlindzey]

I've just finished grading some Latin 3 tests.  There are only 7 kids in Latin 3.  It's interesting...  the things that really used to work for them are no longer working.  That is, the harder the Latin gets, the more they avoid rereading, I think.

I'm not sure what to do to get them to reread more.  Except, of course, use my reading logs daily, which I forget to do.

If I assigned rereading, how could I assess it w/o giving myself more to grade that I can't keep up with? 

I thought the sight passage, modified and shortened from a Cambridge test, was good--not too difficult, but requiring you to demonstrate a command of cases and tenses and such.  A smattering of all the grammar covered.  Two people only missed 1 question--the same question--and if they had read the question again and read the passage they could have seen exactly what I was after.  That is, I don't think they should have missed it.  So the passage was doable.

Then comes grammar questions over the passage.  I don't try to make these terribly tricky or anything, but checking context is ALWAYS helpful.  One of the most commonly missed questions shouldn't have been missed if students had just checked the word in context to REALIZE that the word pumilio is a 3rd decl nominative, like Grumio.  Several missed identifying  an ablative IN A PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE and instead marking it as dative.  PLEASE!  arg.  Or how about not identifying the ablative absolute phrase as, you know, AN ABLATIVE?!  arg. arg.    And I have done such a song and dance about ablative absolutes.

They've struggled with passives and deponents.  Perhaps it was my presentation.  Perhaps it was that one day they seemed to get it, the next they didn't.  Perhaps some old fashioned transformation drills are in order.   

But we've started the next book.  Unit 4.  And even before I had their tests graded I told them we would be going to a more traditional style of class--you prepare it the day/night before, we go over it WITHOUT NOTES or TRANSLATIONS the next day.  I could tell who didn't prep....  well, when I start getting more grades entered I suppose they will do something more productive.  But as I told them, if they were going to do AP next year (and 2 said yes, I may work on a 3rd), they need to learn to read and reread more. 

You know, I think about how much time is wasted--WASTED--in writing out translations when I know from personal experience that you can reread the same passage 2 or three times in the same time it takes to WRITE it out and LEARN it better.  But I don't know... maybe I should let them start writing out translations and checking them off for a grade.  I don't really have time to grade translations is the thing.  Reality.  Dreaded reality.

But if I don't change my approach, they won't be ready for AP next year.  No way.  Likewise, if they don't change their approach.

I'm going to think on it some more.  And grade some other stuff.  I need a week off not just a few days, that's for sure.

Comments

weird thought...

[ginlindzey.livejournal.com]

What if, for 10 days straight, I gave them a sentence from whatever they were supposed to be reading to translate. Trade, correct, take up; pass back out the next day, etc until there are 10 questions. Once there are 10, that's a quiz grade. Doable? Probably a disaster....still, something to think about. gin

[ukelele.livejournal.com]

I think the only way to ensure they reread is to do it in class -- which enables you to give feedback without having to grade, coincidentally. Probably not something you can devote class time to every single time, but maybe if you do it consistently for a bit they will see the benefits of it and it will start to be a habit? This might dovetail neatly with the without-notes-or-translations thing, too; go over something in class, watch them flail because they didn't prep enough, assign them to reread (maybe with some questions to guide the process, maybe different questions for different students -- as there are only 7 -- so everyone gets something out of the process even if their initial understanding was good), go over the same thing again -- it should be obvious to everyone how much better they did.

(Or, relatedly, I guess you could have a class discussion based on rereading -- I think that's tricky because a lot of people will BS that based on their first read -- you would have to really focus in on questions having to do with what was *different* for them, in terms of both grammar and meaning, between first and subsequent reads. I think if I were a student I would have a hard time knowing what I was supposed to get out of rereading, especially when there are other demands on my time, so leading questions and/or modeling are important for demonstrating that.)

I think your one-sentence idea is reasonable. I found it hard to keep up with giving daily quizzes so I would give some thought in advance to how the infrastructure will work such that you can manage it (grade some of them in class? write sentence on board/put up on transparencies rather than making & copying all the quizzes; have students write on own paper?) I might also drop the lowest handful of grades, to avoid being unfair to the student who got the rest of the passage but not that *one* sentence.

Have you told them they won't be ready for AP with these work habits (but of course they can be with better work habits, which you will help them acquire)? I found a lot of students didn't understand how insufficient their work habits were for higher levels until they *got* to those levels, because they were still hanging on at the lower levels. Of course, that may be the sort of lesson you can't learn by being told, only by encountering reality, but maybe they really don't know and need to hear it.

[ginlindzey.livejournal.com]

I think you are right about rereading, but this is a split-level class. The APs need some of my time and definitely don't get enough. And I never seem to have enough time to grade and give feedback.

I'm still brainstorming on possibilities. I'm thinking of typing up the stories and double-spacing them with extra space to the side to have for them to use for "homework"--mark it up however you like--but then have just the clean texts in class.

As one student was finishing this last test (a day late), I told him that often time college tests were just a random passage that had been covered, some vocab items underlined to be fully identified, a portion to translate, etc. And that's it. All written; no multiple choice. And then, of course, the papers.



There are days when I *know* I'm teaching a full load at high school, instead of middle school (which would much better suit my life right now and which I enjoyed teaching) so I can *figure out* HOW to reach these students to get more to the upper levels. How do you convince students to reread? How do you get them to read out loud on their own? How do you get them to WANT to read more?