Students who test poorly
It is important to recognize the phenomenon of the student who participates well in class with answers, whiteboard work and homework assignments and then "freezes" when the written test is placed in their hands. A calm attitude, reassuring comments and even extra time to complete the test--along with some deep breathing exercises may be the answer.
Pam,
Testing is interesting, as it is the one time we really can't be teachers to our students. But behind the scenes, we can do all we can to make the testing environment conducive to students demonstrating their knowledge.
Barry Westling
I think we have to be sensitive to those who have difficulty testing by removing distractions from the room.
Harold,
Tests are really a measure of the degree of learning. Poor performing students need an examination of what possibilities have contributed to low test scores. From there, working on those reasons may assist better performance on subsequent tests. It may even be the teacher or course content that needs adjustment.
Barry Westling
Each student will always require additional instruction to achieve the same if not close learning potental
Harold,
Tests measure the degree of learning a student has achieved up to a certain point. Although students tend to look at these for a grade, the teacher can use them determine how much emphasis is needed or additional instruction to get key points across. For me, it's like "a toe in the water" to see what temperature the water is (how well the students are learning.
Barry Westling
giving the student every chance to understand the course material though the the course and prior to the test is a good thing.
Hi Kay:
What techniques to you employ to help calm your students?
Regards, Barry
Hi Carole:
Very true. Something else that might assist these students is to have a "mock exam", where they see what type of question might appear, then talk through how to approach answering the question, and discuss rationale. For multiple-choice answers that are more difficult, sometimes using process of elimination is helpful as well.
Regards, Barry
Hi Garry:
What's good, is we have the challenge of individualizing instruction to students who need extra help with areas they are weak in. You'd think basic word knowledge and handwriting would be automatic, but, "we take them as we get them".
Regards, Barry
As much as I hate to say this, many of today’s students have very poor reading comprehension skills. With the advent of computers and X Box, our students are becoming more and more visual learners. Had one student ask me what the word “increase†means and other couldn’t read my notes on the blackboard because they didn’t teach script handwriting where he went to school. But with this said, they learn well with on hands training and model lab work.
or understand the way that we are teaching, maybe we need to try another method when we are teaching
You need to ensure that they are calm and besure they understand the course
I agree; test anxiouty is real and that student needs alot of re-eniforcement and waus to get through it. I have used the team work approach for those with languages differences and given that student more time after school with use of a changed oral test prior to exams. It also takes alot of self esteem boasting prior to them taking the steps on their own
C.Smith
