Lesson outlines Preparing and writing a class test

Lesson outlines Preparing and writing a class test by Laura, Melanie, Kim, Mert, Paulina (Gymnasium An der Stenner, Iserlohn)

Table of Contents: Content of a lessons and exam papers in the past and today Exercises during the lesson Assignments in a class test Grading an exam paper Grade system

Lesson outlines In the past Today Working mainly alone Mixed working or in class plenum Absolutely calm Mainly working with the board (and personal note book) Strict rules arrangements: - sometimes alone - sometimes in pairs or groups Working with the board, but also with OHP, worksheets, textsheets etc. Play learner games about the subject matter

Assignments in class tests In the past Text comprehension Drama (scenes), reports, poems, newspaper articles, political speeches => Analysing the text e. g. Examine rhetorical devices, narrative perspective, structure Evaluating an issue in relation to the text as a comment or as a creative text (e. g. as a conversation, speech, story) today the same as in the past

Tasks in written exams (‘class tests‘) Example Subject: English In the past Today More than three tasks: Typical tasks: Three tasks in every exam paper based on the topics of the lessons 1) Summary 2) Analysis 3) Creative writing or Comment Language is more differentiated than it was in the past Giving answers to questions the teacher asks in order to check the results Checking if the student has understood the topic

Grading the class test In the past Today The teacher gives a The teacher has a set up feedback for every pupil Says what he could do better, what he did well, and how it came to his mark Teacher gives personal remarks (etc. encouragement) grid of the results to be expected. He assigns for every criterion of the grid the points the pupil has reached, sums them up and gives a mark. The student mostly doesn‘t get a more exact explanation for his mark.

In the past Dear …, a nice exam paper! I‘m sure you can avoid some mistakes next time when you learn the words exactly, as often you only forgot a letter etc. You should also pay careful attention to the agreement between *person* and *verb form*. Part A: 49. 5 (from 56 points) Part B: 25 / 28 (Sum) 74. 5 / 84 Grade: (perhaps „Gut“ (good, 2))

Today This is 1 (out of 4 (!)) evaluation page - a grid that exactly prescribes the number of points for WHAT the students wrote (=> content, 40%. In the example on the left there are 5 main aspects for which the students can get the maximum of 8 / 4 / 5 / 3 points. If he/she has ideas which the examination board hasn‘t thought of this might be worth the maximum of 4 points. ) In the final examination the grid is in German – so that the students and their parents can easily understand it … and for HOW he/she wrote it (=> language, 60%).

Grade System: The same today as 25 years ago Sek 1 (lower secondary level) 1 > excellent 2 > good 3 > satisfactory 4 > sufficient 5> deficient 6 > inadequate, failed (+) > Tendancy to the higher mark ( - ) > Tendany to the lower mark Sek 2 (upper secondary level) Points from 0 – 15 0 is the worst / 15 the best (15 -5 points: passed; 0 -4 points: deficient / failed)