In a weird round-about way, I had this issue with a quiz question--yes, I gave them a quiz my first day teaching. Muahahaha. I worded a question, asking about things discussed in the chapter, in a way that students misunderstood. All but one of the students actually got it right. So, clearly I worded it wrong. I feel like this is unavoidable. In this instance I just gave them the point, but how can we avoid these situations as much as possible?
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There is definitely a balancing act between leaving enough room in questions that allow for independent thought and connections to be made and too much room for students to misunderstand what you're asking of them and wanting them to produce. I don't think there's a foolproof way guard against misinterpretation. Even true/false and multiple choice formats have some room for give (especially in composition). When an instance does arise where half or so of the classroom interprets the posed question in a manner that you didn't intend, it's a great opportunity for a discussion about in-class exams and how questions are likely to be posed. I would give them the points (if they were able to flesh out an answer for the question they thought I was posing) and explain what my interpretation was in a separate discussion in class. Ambiguous questions are scary for students, but I find that when students misinterpret my questions they often give me more information than what I was looking for!
ReplyDeleteThat being said, if there is a specific question I am having trouble putting into words, I usually bounce the question that I produce off of someone that is not in the class. If I am writing exams in the office, I may reach out to a colleague. Generally, I am producing my exams at my home, so I ask my boyfriend, "If you were given an exam with a question that read.....how would you answer it?" Even if he can't give me exactly what I am looking for (obviously I am not having him read a 103 text), he can still either give me an answer that indicates that students who have been paying attention in class, participating in activities, and keeping up with the reading will be able to answer the question in a complete thought with support and little to no problems OR give me an answer that tells me my audience is almost certainly not going to produce the type of response that I would like.
I wish there was a magic formula. If you find one, let me know!
I'm glad you brought this up. Sometimes, it's hard to word things in a way that students understand because, as the teacher, you have particular knowledge about the subject matter that some students haven't developed yet.
ReplyDeleteI think that working in the writing center has really helped me reflect on the way I explain things, so that I'm more aware of the accessibility of the information I'm discussing. When you can see the confusion on a student's face, it becomes apparent that you should reword or explain in another way the topic or concept.
I think this brings up the importance of having others read over your assignments and see if they interpret things differently. Of course you can't do that with every quiz question.
ReplyDeleteWell, now you know. I think you handled it correctly, with humor and insight.
ReplyDeletePerhaps a solution to make sure your students understand your questions beforehand is simply to read the questions out loud with the class before they "begin" the quiz. I've done this with every quiz I've given thus far and I make sure my students give me a thumbs-up before I require them to begin. Perhaps you utilized this, though, and I'm unaware. In any case, it's something to keep in mind when we're presenting test materials.
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