This is for level 1 classes who are doing Circling with Balls right now:
The quick quizzes on that information should never be complex. If, for example, during PQA, you and the students decide together via the (slow and bizarre) personalized questioning process that
…Obed plays football in Wonderland in a hole next to a tree…
then the only thing that should be tested is the “Obed plays football” part. It is only their third day of class. Even if they can understand it, they may get a little flummoxed since it is a grade, as kids do sometimes in schools.
Always:
– make the quiz writeer ask all yes/no questions. This is so that the quiz is easy and also so that you can use scantrons if you are set up for them in your school.
– quiz them on the simplest information.
– ask the questions very slowly.
– give yourself around 10 minutes at the end of class so that you don’t have to rush the questions.
– have the superstar quiz writer write at least 12 questions for each quiz in case he/she forgets and asks a question that is not a yes/no question.
The Problem with CI
Jeffrey Sachs was asked what the difference between people in Norway and in the U.S. was. He responded that people in Norway are happy and
2 thoughts on “Quick Quizzes”
Call it targeting or not, there is sure going to be a pile repetitions on IL JOUE, BIEN, and MIEUX QUE…. But it’s not the teacher that does this targeting, it’s the subject matter, which is one of generally compelling interest to many students. The teacher just very slowly presents compelling subject matter that, by it’s very nature, targets about 3 structures. DANS, UN(E), and maybe a few other structures not pre-taught are included in the “net” as easily decipherable from the context of recognized places. But checks of each student’s degree of comprehension will usually reveal the need for some point & pause with perhaps a brief bit of pop-up grammar highlighting. And, of course, some other language items, less easily decipherable alone by one’s students, will get “netted” as this PQA continues along. So probably a whole lot of point and pause!
Right, absolutely do not include in the quiz the communicatively “netted” ancillary items no matter how often repeated.
Do you have a special way of training your quiz writer not to include the “netted” items in the quiz questions, or do you just simplify those questions yourself? Of course that itself would provide the necessary initial training.
Yes, I give explicit instructions to only write quiz questions about structures written on the board at the beginning of class, not other vocab I’ve written during the class itself.