Learning From History
I am a 7th grade history teacher. Our school year is split into four quarters, with two quarters making up one semester. After the first semester, students have midterm exams, which cover everything they’ve learned so far.
At my school, if students have maintained at least 90% in the first two quarters, they can be exempt from the midterm. I know that even students who are exempt will need a refresher, so I’m having all students take a short quiz that covers what we’ve learned since the start of the year.
The day before this, the whole class played a game to study for the quiz, and it contained all the topics we had learned about.
Me: “The quiz is officially tomorrow, but if you feel prepared and want to take it today, you may do so. Otherwise, please quietly study.”
[Student], who knows the material but is repeating the class for various reasons, including rushing through assignments and not reading directions thoroughly, raises his hand.
Student: “What is the material on?”
Me: “Everything we’ve covered so far.”
Student: “So does that include the Byzantine Empire?”
Me: “We’ve covered that, so yes.”
Two other students elect to start the quiz early, and before handing them out, I explain to the class at large that when I printed the quizzes, a spacing error made it so that two of the possible answers on a multiple-choice question got pushed onto the back page. A few quiet minutes pass, then [Student] raises his hand again.
Student: “Can you just tell me which topics are covered, and then I’ll decide if I want to take it?”
Me: “It is cumulative. It covers everything we have learned since the beginning of the year.”
Student: “Oh, okay.”
After thinking for a bit, he decides he’s ready to take the quiz. A few minutes later…
Student: “The question at the bottom of the page is cut off.”
Me: “As I explained less than ten minutes ago, the other answers are on the back of the page.”
[Student] turns the page over and gasps in realization. After he finished the quiz and was handing it in:
Student: “I bet I aced it.”
Me: “I’m sure you did! You know a lot about history.”
I just finished grading it. He got 60%. As I said, he’s incredibly bright and knows the subject well, but we’re still working on study skills and reading comprehension.
