Finally Done Writing the Midterm

A week of kvetching later, and I'm finally done writing the midterm.

I've been excited about giving assessments before, but this is my first big one. I haven't given a traditional test yet all year. And I certainly haven't given one on more than just the current unit. I've leaned to the side of wanting synthesis, of needing to show them that they can take what they've learned and apply it to something new, that testing isn't just about the Mishna we did in class but about something bigger, something that's teaching them how to think.

That's what I thought, at least, until I got to this test. Now I'm starting to see that teachers give multiple choice and stuff like that for a reason. One part of that might be so that my aide (and my roommate!) can help me grade them during a week in which I also have to write 80 report card comments. But the biggest thing I've seen is that just writing the test has forced me to pull everything I've taught together, and I hope that taking it will make them proud of all the things they've learned this year. I hope they feel powerful in their knowledge, even as I know they will forget it all a minute after they take the test. This time, I'm after the memory of that empowerment, the faith I have that they will remember the day they were awesome enough at Mishna to have taken a comprehensive test like this and remembered everything.

Weird how I've finally fallen into the place of finally understanding true or false and multiple choice.

And wondering why writing a midterm had to be a skill that I learned in the middle of this terribly stressful month of February, and not a skill I learned back in Pardes.