Daily Quizzes (legacy)
Before a change in the school schedule, in IB Biology 2 students would take a review quiz EVERY DAY. Why??
In 2019 the school schedule changed and we now see our students for about 40 minutes less per week. Something had to get cut, and unfortunately it was the daily quizzes.
How were the quizzes formatted? Students picked up a 1/4 piece of paper upon entry to class each day. They formated their paper like this for constancy and to help in my paper management task. The type of question depended on the day of the school week:
The topic of the quiz depends on the day of the month, according to this schedule (organized based on the legacy curriculum).
How long does this take?
Depending on the day, there was a 5-10 minute time limit on quizzes. In general, students had about 5 minutes to answer the question and then the class spent about 5 minutes scoring.
How are the quizzes scored? There is NO WAY one teacher could score all of these quizzes every day. So, we used a peer grading system. Students turned their quizzes in to a central location, and then the papers were randomly redistributed to other students. The mark scheme for the question prompt was displayed on the screen and the students mark their peer's paper with the letters that pair to the mark scheme. A total score was indicated on the paper and shared with the quiz taker. Students discussed any discrepancies between perceived versus earned score. If a student didn't agree with a score that their peer has given them, they highlighted their name on the quiz paper and I automatically rescored it. After scoring, the papers were turned back into the same central location and a volunteer student would organize the quizzes into numerical order (each student has a unique class number that pairs with their alphabetical listing in the gradebook, that way when I had the stack of quizzes, they were already in order for quick spot check and easy score entry into the gradebook).
Initially, all of the quiz scores were put into a gradebook category that was "No Count," meaning, the raw quiz scores did not have immediate impact on a student's grade. Students saw their raw quiz score (for example 2 out of 5) but the raw scores were not included in the class grade. The raw scores were meant to be informative, to let the student practice with IB questions and reflect on their knowledge of the material. It was the overall, cumulative average quiz score that ended up mattering, because at the midpoint and end of each grading period, the cumulative average was used to determine a score that is placed in the gradebook category for quizzes. These cumulative quiz scores did count.
This sounds like a lot of work. Is it worth it?
It is understood that the thought of a daily quiz can be intimidating for students. However, trust me! Year after year students communicated their appreciation for the true learning that daily self assessments allowed. Here are some comments from former students about the benefits of a daily quiz:
- See this blog post about why quizzing everyday is such a powerful learning tool
- Read this article from the New York Times explaining the value of quizzes and tests in learning.
- Skim this article outlining the Ten Benefits of Frequent Self Testing.
In 2019 the school schedule changed and we now see our students for about 40 minutes less per week. Something had to get cut, and unfortunately it was the daily quizzes.
How were the quizzes formatted? Students picked up a 1/4 piece of paper upon entry to class each day. They formated their paper like this for constancy and to help in my paper management task. The type of question depended on the day of the school week:
- "Multiple Choice Monday" - Mondays were always a 5 question multiple choice on the review material for that day and the Saturday and Sunday before the quiz. The questions were all from past Paper 1 IB exams. 5 minute maximum.
- “Table Team Tuesday” or “We Wisdom Wednesday.” Tuesday and Wednesday quizzes were a table team effort. Students collaborated to answer a data-based question from paper 2 or paper 3. 10 minute maximum.
- "Thinking Thursday" - On Thursday, student had to put on their thinking caps to individually respond to an extended response question from a past paper 2 or 3 IB exam. 5 minute maximum.
- "Figure Friday" - The Friday quiz involved drawing and labeling a biological figures, as is often required in questions from paper 2 or 3 of the IB exam. 5 minute maximum.
The topic of the quiz depends on the day of the month, according to this schedule (organized based on the legacy curriculum).
How long does this take?
Depending on the day, there was a 5-10 minute time limit on quizzes. In general, students had about 5 minutes to answer the question and then the class spent about 5 minutes scoring.
How are the quizzes scored? There is NO WAY one teacher could score all of these quizzes every day. So, we used a peer grading system. Students turned their quizzes in to a central location, and then the papers were randomly redistributed to other students. The mark scheme for the question prompt was displayed on the screen and the students mark their peer's paper with the letters that pair to the mark scheme. A total score was indicated on the paper and shared with the quiz taker. Students discussed any discrepancies between perceived versus earned score. If a student didn't agree with a score that their peer has given them, they highlighted their name on the quiz paper and I automatically rescored it. After scoring, the papers were turned back into the same central location and a volunteer student would organize the quizzes into numerical order (each student has a unique class number that pairs with their alphabetical listing in the gradebook, that way when I had the stack of quizzes, they were already in order for quick spot check and easy score entry into the gradebook).
Initially, all of the quiz scores were put into a gradebook category that was "No Count," meaning, the raw quiz scores did not have immediate impact on a student's grade. Students saw their raw quiz score (for example 2 out of 5) but the raw scores were not included in the class grade. The raw scores were meant to be informative, to let the student practice with IB questions and reflect on their knowledge of the material. It was the overall, cumulative average quiz score that ended up mattering, because at the midpoint and end of each grading period, the cumulative average was used to determine a score that is placed in the gradebook category for quizzes. These cumulative quiz scores did count.
This sounds like a lot of work. Is it worth it?
It is understood that the thought of a daily quiz can be intimidating for students. However, trust me! Year after year students communicated their appreciation for the true learning that daily self assessments allowed. Here are some comments from former students about the benefits of a daily quiz:
