Midterm Time

It’s midterm time, and that means I’m completely exhausted. I work a lot harder during the administration of tests than I do during regular classes. Since I don’t believe in the punitive form of testing, I have to make sure that every test serves the goal for which the students gather in my classroom. Assigning grades cannot be that goal, of course. Sure enough, everybody’s teaching philosophy is different but people who use tests to catch students out in the greatest number of mistakes possible puzzle me.

So during tests (midterms, quizzes, final exams, etc.) I work with each student individually, pointing out mistakes and problematic areas, suggesting vocabulary or stylistic improvements. If a student forgets a term, I help her to remember it. If a student doesn’t know the Spanish translation for a word, I give it to him. Contrary to the training that the language teachers always get (“Just tell the students that you are not a dictionary!”), I always say, “I’m your dictionary, so feel free to ask me for translations.” My slogan that everybody knows me for is “Don’t suffer in silence.” The best test, in my opinion, is a dialogue between the student and the teacher.

Of course, all this means that I’m running around the classroom like a headless chicken during every exam, making sure that I approach every student at least half a dozen times during each test.

I also wanted to share a really nice moment that happened to me yesterday. My TA who is helping me run my Advanced Grammar course is a native speaker of Spanish (which I am obviously not). During class, she got confused on a grammar point and asked me to explain. And I did. This was a quiet exchange but the students noticed. And I felt very good about myself.