The Writing Prompt

[pamelonian]

This semester the entire school district is giving the same final exams in Spanish 1 and 2.  Writing the tests has been a huge undertaking.  I was not on the committee that wrote the tests, but I have submitted corrections when preliminary versions were sent out.  We have received something like 8 updated versions of the tests!  Of course, we will probably still find some Whammies when we actually give the tests next week, but we have received what are supposed to be the final versions of the tests. 

Spanish 1 students will also get a speaking test.  They will be given a picture of a person and they will describe that person to me.  I plan to have the rest of the class working on review packets while I pull the students aside one by one to listen to them.  That part will be done before they come to take the final exam.  

Spanish 2 students get a writing assessment.  They are to write 10-15  sentences in Spanish about a topic that we have covered this semester.  They don't get to choose the topic.  It is all there on the writing prompt.  I gave that yesterday.  I did some work with them last week to prepare them for the writing part and most of them looked prepared and even confident while they wrote. 

Now I have to grade them.  It looks like about 75 papers.  Most of the essays won't be perfect, but we have a scoring guide to help us.  I have been avoiding the grading all day!  I watched a dvd, read some of a book, took a long nap, and even straightened in the kitchen a bit.  Now I am writing this.  I can probably bust the grading out in a couple of hours.  I am a very fast grader.  I just don't wanna!!!! 

I am worried I will grade too harshly or not harshly enough.  I am worried that I won't grade mine the same as the other teachers.  That is a given, I know.  It is ridiculous to expect ALL Spanish 2 teachers in the district to grade this thing the same way.  At least we get to grade our own.  I would rather do that than send them in to some committee.  Wait a minute, maybe I would rather send them in...

The district curriculum adviser says that these tests will not be used to evaluate us as teachers.  We are all VERY suspicious of the way this data will be used.  My students mostly represent a good middle to upper middle class demographic.  They will make me look good.  I just don't like the part I am playing in this.  I guess the good news is that I don't have to write my own final exams anymore.

Comments

[zitronenhai.livejournal.com]

Oh, rest assured it will be used to evaluate y'all as teachers. Never believe the suits when they say shit like that! It is good that your students won't disappoint you either way. I told you that you would like SME for that reason, and I was right AGAIN! When will people stop doubting me?

;)

I put off my paper today almost as long as I possibly could. I could've put it off for about another hour and a half to get it in my midnight, but I finished about twenty minutes ago. If it were not so horribly cold, I would come over with my sinister box, but as it is, I am in my new minty green softy bathrobe and no way in HELLS I am leaving the haus!

[pamelonian.livejournal.com]

I finally bit the bullet and got down to work. Of course, it is taking longer than the 2 hours I predicted. I am probably going to finish at the 3 1/2 hour mark, with many breaks along the way. Only 7 more papers to grade! I can do this.

Maybe I am grading too hard. The essays look pretty good on the surface, but the scores are not that great. Hard to say. I am really second-guessing myself on this.

I would have loved to have had you and your sinister box over. Maybe next weekend...

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

I hate liars. And I agree with Shri. Anyone who doesn't think standard tests are used to judge everyone involved is an idiot, or lying to himself (and others).