In her lesson on Julius Caesar in conjunction with test preparation, she makes a good point on pg. 157 about multiple choice practice. She states:
"I would never waste valuable preparation time writing multiple-choice questions, compiling character identification lists, or composing true/false questions for an assessment of our classroom literature. You can find such items for almost any classic on the internet or in published study guides. Moreover students will invariably point out how my homemade multiple-choice questions are vaguely expressed and defend their incorrect answers with reason. I give up."
She recognizes the futility that comes along with this type of rote testing. By instead focusing on developing their critical thinking skills, she shows that the ability to answer the multiple choice questions will come along with it.
I think ending our blogs about using classics in the classroom with this quote is more than appropriate: "Playing games with the classics accomplishes nothing."
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Pleasure Reading
13 years ago
3 comments:
I agree. Being able to write out questions for your students means nothing unless they know how to answer them using critical thinking skills and abstract thoughts.
I also think she made a great point about the futility of multiple choice questions. It sounds like Jago really pushes her students to think critically about literature. If students are able to achieve that goal, they will easily be able to answer multiple choice questions.
I agree with you Matt, the point she made about the futility of multiple choice questions was beyond true. I remember being in high school and I would rarely read the literature we were supposed to because I knew the assessment that came at the end a unit would be easy to pass.I love the fact that this chapter ties into what we have been talking about in class. As teachers, we do not always have to formally test students on literature. We can informally test students' knowledge by giving them assignments that demand critical thinking.
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