Saturday, June 11, 2011

Open Note Test

Yesterday was the last Friday of the school year. I was not surprised at the number of teachers who were out. I fully expected to cover an extra period. Luckily, it was right next door to the class I covered all day.

My extra period assignment was a 7th grade world history class. They had a final. 30 multiple choice questions. And it was open note.

I followed the lesson plan and gave the class 15 minutes of last minute cram time. Then I gave the class my usual test warning about no talking, and I passed out the test.

They settled nicely. I had been warned that they were not to use books for the test, so I walked around to make sure no one was trying that. Instead, I found one boy using the notes of the girl seated behind him.

The boy explained that he was missing some information in his notes, so he was borrowing the girl's notes to fill in those gaps. I reiterated that he could only use his own notes on the test. He told me that they were the same notes.

Apparently not.

I kept a closer eye on those two, but the boy didn't attempt to use the girl's notes any more. And the notes were to be turned in with the test, so once the girl finished, neither of them had access to the notes.

The boy ended up being the last one done with his test, taking a good ten minutes longer than the rest of the class. Part of me felt sorry for him. But hopefully next time he'll take a little more care in making sure his notes are complete.

I shouldn't feel too bad. He did have a whole 15 minutes to update his notes before I passed out the test.

6 comments:

  1. Are you off for the summer or do you work? I had the opportunity to teach summer school but need a break other than some tutoring I do.

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  2. So many teachers take off this time of year that there are a shortage of subs in my district.

    Too bad for the boy. I'm sure he knew the deal but slacked!

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  4. Kids are the same all over, from time immortal...LOL.

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  5. I know how you feel about the boy, but hopefully he has learned a useful lesson and will benefit from it in future :)

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  6. Open note tests are a joke. I hope that this one was extremely difficult given the ease of being able to look things up that you bring with you. Our education system is getting dumbed down for people who are lazy or who refuse to apply themselves. I guess it's a good thing that I'm not in charge of education.

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