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"Testing leads to failure, and failure leads to understanding. '' Burt Rutan
Literary Criticism Day 11 - The Exam : So now comes the test of everything that has come before in this Unit. The quizzes were designed to see if the students did the reading - not if they understood it; the solo, group work, questions for today, the movie, the lecture, the readings - everything is designed to allow students to have an understanding - at least on a very fundamental level of Literary Criticism and this exam will determine whether that happened or not. Notice I said "allow them to have an understanding." You cannot force students to think - you cannot make them care about what they are learning. You can only give them every opportunity to do so. This exam includes questions on the entire Stephen Booth reading - though only 9 pages were assigned. By making the Total Possible Points of the Exam 400 points - while they can, if they get all of the multiple choice questions correct receive 450 points (by getting the nonrequired parts of the Stephen Booth reading correct). It's a quick and accurate way to give Extra Credit.
Lesson Overview
Lesson Overview
This is the fourth exam that the students have had in the class so far (Beowulf & Grendel, The Middle Ages & Chaucer, Macbeth). See my page on Quizzes and Exams.
A good reason to give students an exam on the Unit is to help them prepare for college (98% of my students went on to college). Most colleges give (or used to give) multiple choice exams. They will also be seeing multiple choice on the ACT & the SAT exams. The more comfortable students are with those type of exams, the better.
It is more than possible to write a good, thinking exam that accurately reflects the thought that's been happening in the class. It does take time. I don't believe in "trick questions or answers" -- though I'm not exactly sure what those are (sometimes a student will say there is a trick answer, and I'm like "no, that's the wrong answer - and it's not close to the right answer and it's not meant to fool the the test taker."
This exam covers the entire Literary Criticism Unit - the group and solo works, the readings, the movie, "Shooting an Elephant", the Stephen Booth Lecture and anything else that was covered.
Exams in my class usually count for 450 points (a reading quiz is usually 100 points) - but remember, this exam is worth 450 points but students can get 500 points by getting the nonrequired part of the Stephen Booth reading done.
Exam
Exam
Most Recent Exam
Most Recent Exam
There are usually four choices - with the fifth choice being humorous and obviously wrong. Also, for the most part, to help students with their focus - the questions go chronologically (though not always) based on how it was covered in class. If there is any demand from teachers using this website, I can eventually publish the answer key as well. See above for more on the exam.
Remote Enhancements
Remote Enhancements
Exams are tough to do Remotely unless you are monitoring closely your students devices.
Students are instructed to put this rubric on the first page of their Literary Criticism Binders. There are two check-ins - two grades for this unit - both of them unannounced - so students should be up to date at all times. In addition to being a rubric - it breaks down in great detail - exactly what is expected of them - including how many questions (or readings) there are for each part of each day's entries: Readings for that Day (notes are graded), Questions for Today, Group Work Questions, and Solo Work.
Because you don't want to deprive students of their Journals during this unit - I usually do the first check-in (Grading) while they are watching the first part of Exit Through the Gift Shop - I will only collect as many as I can get graded during that time - and will grade the rest the next day - during the class period - asking them to take out the work and readings that they need for that class. The second check-in is not so rushed and I usually collect the binders after the Final Exam to grade them.
NOTE: I always gave students a chance to revise their binders (journals) if they did it BEFORE the final. I told them that I would change the grade they got for Check-In #1 (the only checkin that I offered this) to an average of their original grade with what they would have gotten with the revised journal. In other words, if they got a 50 on the first check-in - and then they revised it, gave it to me (before the final on Literary Criticism) - and the new assessment of their Journal lands them what would have been a 90 - I will change the recorded grade for that check-in to a 70.
The Renaissance Part 2: Before we leave the Renaissance we still have some very beautiful and very poetry (and a little prose) to get to. The Carpe Diem poems, the incredible metaphysics of John Donne, Christopher Marlowe (give a chance to redeem himself after the dreadful nymph poem) and one more Sonnet by Shakespeare. In Andrew Marvell's words - "I always hear Time's winged chariot hurrying near." I calculated once that by the end of my career teaching, we had 22 actual days less with the students - missing days where something had to be left behind - a poem, an author, a novel. Those literal missing days paled however compared to the reduced expectations that were forced on teachers as time went on. In seizing the day - I always wanted to use every second of every class and give students every moment of learning that I knew how to give.
WHAT CAME BEFORE:
WHAT CAME BEFORE:
Literary Criticism Day 10 - Exit Through the Gift Shop Part 2
Thoughts on the Lesson
Thoughts on the Lesson
The Results of this exam are always interesting to see. Students almost always underperform what I think they are going to do - and that's alright. I'm not sure how much I studied in school either. But the interesting part with this exam is you will see students who haven't been performing well - doing quit good on this exam. Some students who simply cannot get into fiction - adore this Unit and their exam grade shows that.
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