1) Interpret the Reading Quiz Data

Spring 2005 (Age of Nationalism) 1) Interpret the Reading Quiz distributions below. What do they mean? 2) If you were the teacher, what would you do?

RQ#3 day night 10> 12 3 7-9 2 0 6< 11 3

1) I suppose the easiest assumption to make is that half the class reads and retains the readings while the other half doesn't. I, as a teacher who cared if my students learned, would spend more time creatively encouraging the students to read. i.e., in- class reading and open discussion, and less time making examples of poor work of other students. Perhaps give a syllabus to allow students with poor attendance to follow with readings for that might be the reason they do poorly on quizzes. [RQ avg. = 0%]

2) As the teacher, if I were to see this problem in which half the class was studying and the other wasn't, I would change my teaching technique and teach material other than simply reviewing the required reading assignment. [RQ avg. = 10%]

3) I can tell you, from my own experience, your method of teaching is completely foreign to me. Never have I taken a class that you are graded prior to being taught. Most teachers will assign a reading –clarify the reading (or teach it) and then grade your understanding of the material. This is how I learn best. The same might be true for the rest of the class. [RQ avg. = 10%]

4) I think that this means that either half the class is reading and taking a lot of notes and the other half is not, or that maybe about half the class is more historically educated, there are no pre-reqs so everyone has a different level of education. If I was the teacher I don’t know what I would do. Maybe have less intense questions that everyone could understand. [RQ avg. = 12.5%]

5) Some of the scores on the top half may be students that are very well educated in history and Europe. From working in groups I’ve come to find that some of these guys know half this stuff already. For me this is the first of any kind of history class, so memorizing names I’ve never heard of is a lot harder. As far as what would you do, I’m really not sure. You tell us what to read and you teach well—so I think we just need to study more. [RQ avg. = 12.5%]

6) I think that half the class is doing work and half isn't. You can't slow things down to help the students that are failing because that's not fair to the kids that are trying. What I say you do is continue to teach how you are and continue to tell the students that are failing that you can help them with any problems they may have. If they continue to do bad on the reading quizzes they chose not to study or read the chapters assigned. Continue teaching how you are, it's not fair to change things because some of the students can't find some time to read their books. [RQ avg. = 15%]

7) I think those numbers mean that either the students were prepared and did well or weren't prepared and didn't do well. The quiz is set up to show who was reading and who wasn't. If I were the teacher I would try to do more to encourage my students to be more prepared because it is proven that if you are prepared you will do well. I would also encourage them strongly to come to me if they were having problems with how they prepared themselves. [RQ avg. = 25%]

8) The numbers show that there is no in between . . .this leads me to believe that people who read the chapter and take notes do well where as people who don't read the chapter are likely to do bad. As the teacher, I don't know what I would do because the 12 @ 10> is about 50% of the class, so I would say it's up to the students. [RQ avg. = 37.5%]

9) What these numbers mean is that people in the 10> really understand the material while the 6< don't really understand the material . . . If I were the teacher I really don't know what to do. If the students are not putting in the time needed to understand the information, there really is not much you could do. I would allow the students to write an interpretation of what they read, or have something fun that would encourage them to read. [RQ avg. = 47.5%] 10) It seems that while half the class is attempting to apply themselves well to the course, there is another half that chooses not to do so. The idea is that as long as you try then the class is somewhat easy to be successful in. On the contrary it also means you need to try to be able to do well in this class, showing that slackers will not be able to get by easily without doing the work. It seems that the people who are trying are doing well and if the others don't try that is not the teacher's fault. The teaching style would be well to be left alone. [RQ avg. = 62.5%]

11) The numbers on the last reading quiz represent who is studying and taking notes and who is not putting enough or any time into the assignments. These numbers indicate that half of the day and night classes are studying and half had better buckle down or try and get some of their money back for class and books . . . If I were the teacher I wouldn't change anything because you earn your own grade . . . [RQ avg. = 72.5%]

12) The numbers show that out of 25 people, 12 of them prepared--read the pages and took notes . . . . And the other 11 people either took really crappy notes or none at all. So some people are trying to do well, but others obviously are not. If I was the teacher and results were like that my first intention would be to tell the people that aren't taking notes to get out of the class, but of course you can't do that. I don't really know what I would do, I mean we are all in college now. [RQ avg. = 90%]

13) I believe that note-taking is an important factor since the questions come directly out of the text giving detailed clues to the correct answers. Perhaps dedication could be a factor in these scores . . . there must be some sort of drive in us to excel . . . I personally don't know what could be done to improve scores. It depends on the student to make a choice of what degree of effort should be put into their education. [RQ avg. = 95%]

14) The people who are doing the work are doing just fine, and who cares about the people who aren't. Unless the instructor wants to go to the homes of the people who aren't doing the work and threaten them or stare at them until they do; there's not much he can do unless he wants to dumb down the class to the point that nobody learns anything but still passes. [RQ avg. = 100%]

15) Unfortunately, there is nothing you can do for those who simply choose not to study. However . . . I think I would try to create "middle-ground", create READING activities in class for those who don't do it at home. But also, since there is no "average" area of scores, that reflects there are more people who choose not to study more than those who don't understand. [RQ avg. = 100%]

16) It's hard to know what to do; how do you MAKE people take notes? There is obviously nothing wrong with the reading quizzes; half the class is getting an 'A' [on them]. Maybe make part of the grade based on notes. [RQ avg. = 100%]

17) This means that about half the classes are taking notes and actually reading the assignment while the other half is probably just note-taking and not reading or both. What I would do is keep giving the reading quizzes because the grades we receive on them are what we put into them. The questions aren't difficult and if you just do the material you will be fine. People only hurt themselves by not doing it and it will show during test time. [RQ avg. = 100%]

18) If I were the teacher, I would question why these students are getting such low scores. I would think that it's not my fault though because the contact information is in the syllabus if they need help. If they aren't getting help, I would assume that they are just not doing the homework/reading. [RQ avg. = 107.5%]

19) The numbers show that about half of the students do the readings and take notes, while half of the students do not. If you read the material and take good notes it is impossible to do badly on the quizzes. As a teacher I wouldn't let up on the lower scoring students. If they don't do the reading for an incentive that has an effect on their grades, then they won't do it is it does not effect their grade. I would continue what I was doing, you can't help it if some students just don't care. If you want to learn then you can, it's the instructor's job to help them learn, but if you don't want to then there is nothing the instructor can do. [RQ avg. = 125%] 20) As a teacher, this isn’t easy to solve. For the success of a student, the material needs to be presented in a challenging, but attainable way . . . . With these numbers it’s like you're teaching two completely different classes of people . . . [RQ avg. = 87.5%]

21) The people who scored low obviously need to take notes or need to get help to learn how to take better notes. If I were teaching this class I would strongly urge the people who scored low to come into my office hours and see me if they need help taking better notes. [RQ avg. = 87.5%]

22) I would guess that either people aren't reading the material , or they aren't taking very good notes. It's kind of self- policing, because those who don't read/take notes are going to fail the quizzes. You've made it clear that we can come to you for help with note-taking, I don't know what else you could do. We're responsible for our grades and while I know it's frustrating for the teacher, I think that the bad grades should motivate the students to do better. The quizzes are only difficult if you haven't read/taken good notes. I can't think of anything else beyond what you've already done (which I think is quite enough) that you could do. If I were the teacher, I would let those who aren't putting effort into the class get the grades that they deserve. [RQ avg. = 87.5%]

23) These results indicate that those students who actually do their reading & take notes do very well and those who don't read or take inadequate notes do very poorly. Basically, it looks like about half of all the students are doing their homework . . . If I were faced with these results as a teacher, I would first spend some time teaching my students how to read the textbook effectively and efficiently. The I would go over various note-taking techniques . . . . I would also consider weighting my reading quizzes more heavily, so they have a very significant impact on a final grade. This might motivate some to get their acts together. [RQ avg. = 90%]

QUESTIONS: 1) Are there any overall patterns in these student comments? Be specific. 2) What is the teacher's responsibility to those who don't do the work and will not come in to get help? 3) Which statement do you agree with more and why? Which statement reflects the "real world" more accurately? a) Learning to adapt to new & changing situations is an important "real world" skill; learning new things independently without always having someone telling me what to do is essential. b) The "real world" will adapt to fit my needs, so teachers should always adapt to my specific learning style because that's what reality will be like.