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Let me preface this by saying that this thread is meant as a venting thread by an inner-city teacher and is meant for other teachers.
Does anyone else on here allow open-note/book quizzes/tests and then have students ask, "Where can we find .....?" Are they kidding me? Oh, and then when I refuse to tell them, I hear, "You're mean, you drawlin', why you irkin'?"Because though I understand you may need some help I don't believe I need to do everything for you.
I work as a resource teacher with the general education teachers. This teacher I am working with allows EVERY SINGLE test and quiz to be open-book, open note. I DESPISE it! Terrible idea.
Your exclamation reminds me of Charlie Brown when Lucy pulls the football away. LOL All I can say is find a private school or an upper middle class school where the diversity matches that of the U.S. overall. Otherwise things are not going to change.
I know you directed your OP to teachers, but,as a parent, I would not be happy if my kids were given open book tests/quizzes. That sounds like homework. You need to expect more of your students, regardless of their backgrounds.
I can tell you that I gave an open-note quiz at an affluent suburban school, and it was a similar disaster. Before I started teaching the unit, I announced the open-note quiz. I also, at several points, told my students that i was not testing their knowledge so much as their note-taking and organizational skills. I collected students' notes throughout the unit and then addressed misconceptions I found in their notes in the following day's lesson. I did not, however, mark corrections on the notes; that was the students' responsibility as I re-taught material.
The quiz average for my open-note assessment was 10 points lower than closed-note quizzes. I also asked students to attach their notes to the quiz when they turned it in. Though I had three times listed the materials (in written and spoken instructions) that students could use to take the quiz as well as the topics that would be covered, most students did not bring in notes about one of the first subjects we studied during the unit.
I used to cringe when teachers did "binder checks" to see that all of our notes and handouts were in order. I now see that this might not be an inappropriate strategy even in secondary education. I think that students need a lot of scaffolding to figure out what it takes to organize information. Many students also need worksheets and graphic organizers to show them how to take notes in the first place. They then need to be allowed to fail open-note quizzes to see the consequences of not keeping their materials in order/not taking notes.
As a former resource room/study skills teacher (and now a dance and p.e. teacher!) at the high school level, I agree with the above poster.......high schoolers today have no concept of organization, how to take notes, how to discern important papers from non-essential information, etc.
Students can definitely benefit from learning these skills and I still teach them as often as I can, even in Dance and P.E.
I didn't see where the OP was also allowing students to use their notes for the quizzes. I do see the sense in that, as note taking is an important skill to learn. I don't, however, see the sense in holding open book tests.
In an ideal world, open-book tests would not exist. However, I think that it is important to keep in mind that the OP is an inner-city teacher. If you have never taught inner-city students, you have absolutely no right to criticize. Unfortunately, teachers need to be realistic wrt the capabilities of their students, for whom curriculum and tests et al. must often be modified/tailored. I'm not defending it; it flippin' sucks and is severely disheartening. I hate open-book tests just as much as the nest teacher, but it is a reality for many teachers who do not have students from privileged backgrounds.
To the OP: I feel your pain. It sounds as if going over basic study skills (again) might be necessary. I know it seems like a given but, unfortunately, most of these students must be shown how to do *everything*; all of the testing that public schools emphasize does not exactly encourage independence and self-reliance. Yes, it is extremely frustrating but you are making a difference with students that others give up or burn out on. And no, you're not mean: mean means you're making them work, which is a good thing. Whether they are actually learning is another matter entirely.
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