I'm thinking about administering daily quizzes, in AP exam multiple choice format, on the assigned reading from the night before instead of giving written homework. I'd like to give study questions at the beginning of the week to guide their reading and studying, and so that they're not completely blindsided by quiz questions. I'd put the quiz questions on the overhead projector and have the students use their own notebook paper. I'm not sure what the protocol for taking attendance is, but I'd like to take attendance by collecting the quizzes in the morning. I'd also give my students the answers to the quiz after I collected the papers so that they could ask questions about anything they didn't understand. There would be no make-up quizzes; if a student has an excused absence, the missed quiz just wouldn't get averaged in (so 30/30 quizzes instead of 31/31 for example). The lowest quiz grade would get dropped at the end of the semester. I took a college class that worked just like this, and I feel it was a highly effective method of instruction. What do you guys think?
Wouldn't administration of these quizzes take time away from daily instruction? I'm not a core academic teacher and as a culinary arts instructor, I don't teach AP classes ... but daily quizzes seem a bit much. What about a weekly quiz?
Its a nice idea-but keep in mind that's a daily grading for you. Is that extra paper and grading something you want to endure the entire year? As far as that as a way to take attendance, keep in mind that students may be tardy or not take the quiz at all because they didn't read the assignment the night before and basically refuse to do it. Attendance is probably done at the beginning of the day in homeroom or as in my district first period-however, I take attendance in each of my classes. Usually if someone has an excused absence, they can make-up any work they missed-I've had students want to make it up, even if its not averaged in. They want those extra points. Remember, college classes and elem/middle/secondary are very different. AP classes are designed to be 'tougher', but I'm not sure you are going to get the satisfaction from your high school students as your professor and yourself received in your college class. I agree with Dave, if you are set on doing quizzes, maybe a weekly or bi-weekly quiz. I did them last year after each section of the chapter-however, I'm quitting those (mine is for a different reason, it wasn't helping the students on the chapter tests, grades stayed the same-those that did well before still continued to excel, those that didn't, didn't.) Good Luck
I used to do daily quizzes when I taught history. The quizzes were only 5 questions each, and were really designed to draw attention to things that I thought were important, or as a way to see what the students were catching, and what they were missing. The quizzes themselves weren't worth much points each, and the whole thing took about five minutes. Once they finished their quizzes, they held them up and I snatched them out of the air. We immediately went over the answers, then started the day's lessons. The students seemed to like them, as they weren't as stressful to them as tests were. I guess I used them more as a warm up or a review than as a test of their knowledge.
This is exactly what I'm thinking of doing. 5 questions max, multiple choice, and the quizzes wouldn't be worth much points each. Like I said, I'd go over the answers after the completion of each quiz. I expect that they'd take around five minutes to complete. That's how long it took in the college class I had. How did this method work for you?
It worked out great, and the kids enjoyed it, but it was actually a lot of work for me. I eventually started giving quizzes sporadically, like when they were getting a lot of questions wrong on their homework, or just whenever I felt like giving them. Grading them was the easy part. Having to create them everyday was the cumbersome part.
The quizzes are instructional, so I'm not sure how that would take away from daily instruction. As someone commented above, they don't really take very long to administer. We have ELMO projectors, so it's just a matter of me putting a typed quiz up on the projector, having the students pull out a piece of paper, and me saying "go." It takes around five minutes. I'm talking about using daily quizzes in lieu of written homework assignments, so I'm not worried about it being too much work. If anything, I'm concerned that parents will complain that I'm not giving enough work since I won't be assigning written homework if I do quizzes.
I was thinking it would be a lot of front-loaded work, but I could re-use quizzes the following year and incorporate quiz questions into the final exam and AP exam prep.
I've not heard of a parent complaining of NOT enough work. I don't give homework except to study for tests and projects that aren't done in class. Usually its parents complaining of too much homework. You could always try it, give it a couple of weeks and see if it benefits the students and the class. I was always told not to change things up too much, but if something doesn't work it just doesn't. You could always change it to suit your students better. I'd give it at least 2-3 weeks anyway to let the student get used to the process.
Turn it into Bell Work A few years ago I began a daily procedure of Bell work, which was sometimes a few questions on material from the day before and sometimes was a pop quiz on old material. This has been very successful because it acts as a review before teaching the new material and it gives immediate feedback to me and the students on how much they are ( or not) learning. I did stop giving reading quizzes for the simple fact that students do not read the text. I teach chemistry, where reading for understanding is different than history so it might be more successful for you. As far as using the quizzes as attendance, I have found a quick full-proof method for taking attendance. Use a seating chart, an empty seat is an absent student. If a student comes in late, I make a little star next to the name. Good luck!
I do either a quiz or a Bell Work problem everyday at the beginning of class. They are based off of the homework problems from the night before. They leave their bell work in a binder that is kept in my classroom. That way I can skim over those that I think might be having trouble. Bell Work is graded on an effort grade at the end of the grading period. Quizzes are graded and returned to the students to make corrections.
I say yes, yes, yes! I always gave reading quizzes in my AP Biology class - and at our speed, that amounted to daily quizzes. They were always short enough to be finished quickly, and I often reproduced them again to use as notes - moreover, they make an excellent lesson starter. I highly recommend them, especially for AP classes.
When I teach the novel 1984, I give 5-question reading quizzes that the students do in their composition notebooks. Then I choose 5 students at random and stamp their quizzes and record their grades. They never know who's going to be graded - it keeps them on their toes.
Not to hijack, but what activities do you do for 1984? It's one of the books I have to teach in my one English IV class next year, and I've never taught it before.
I have a ton of stuff - I start with "the 1984 experience," which is an immersion activity, and I use the novel as a jumping-off point for Socratic circles on privacy and freedom of speech. I am away from home right now, using my sister-in-law's computer, but if you remind me next week I'll be glad to send you some of my files.
Thanks! I'm going to do it. I'll take attendance using a seating chart like Chem said. Hopefully I'll have time to take attendance while they do their quizzes. That way I kill two birds with one stone, and I can launch right into lectures about the material.
I've done daily quizzes for the past two years and I really liked it. It kept my students on top of their vocabulary, which was the subject of the quizzes. I'm probably going to have to drop the daily quizzes this coming year, though, because I'm going to be adding in some new activities and I don't think I'd have time to do them plus the quizzes. We'll see. For you, I say go for it!
My kids get a quiz on every reading assignment (25-30 pages) which amounts to 2 quizzes per week, keep in mind this is for AP only. My kids only written homework is to complete guided reading questions on the assigned chapters, and those I collect on the day of the quiz, again this is only for AP.(There might be some other assignments sprinkled in there along the way.) My honors kids usually don't get consistent reading quizzes, but they have guided reading assignments on their readings. They get a quiz every Friday on all material covered.
I agree with the bell work. Maybe have the students turn in all the bell work at the end of the week for points.
