Hello, my name is Mr. Malley

Part 1: My Quiz Policy

Last year, I gave random quizzes in AP Psychology on a “variable ratio schedule of reinforcement.” My logic was that if students never knew when there would be a quiz, then they would always come prepared.

This, I learned, is untrue. What students did instead was search out possible patterns of behavior in my quizzing schedule. They would say things like “I didn’t think there would be a quiz today” or “Why do you always give a quiz on the days I don’t think there will be one.” They would guess whether they would have a quiz or not, and shape their behavior around that guess. If they didn’t think there would be a quiz, they wouldn’t study. If they thought there might be one, they would.

This is not the type of behavior I want to encourage. Based on the recommendation of last year’s AP class, I decided this year to give a daily reading quiz, reinforcing reading on a continuous schedule.

Part 2: My Quiz Make-up Policy

High school juniors and seniors have hundreds of reasons to miss my class. Many of them are unjustifiable. For example, it is reasonable for me to expect that students schedule vacations, senior pictures, extended lunches, routine doctor’s appointments, etc. around my class.

Based on this logic, last year’s AP students could not make up missed quizzes in my class. They went into the book as a zero. However, since I know that we’re all human, and that we occasionally cannot prevent missing class (illness, certain medical appointments, etc.), I dropped the lowest quiz score from calculation. This, in a sense, allowed each student one missed class every marking period (9 weeks), or two per semester.

Part 3: The Problem

I can’t help but wonder whether this is too strict, especially considering that I am now planning to give quizzes every single class period. If my classes meet five times every two weeks, that’s approximately 24 quizzes every marking period.

Perhaps I could offer extra work in the form of research that would make up for their lowest two scores. This would allow them the opportunity to turn their two lowest scores into high scores, offsetting the effect that an absense would have on their grade.

This, of course, would force me to do more work. I would have to not only read, comment on, and assess the papers produced by the make-up research, but I would have to come up with the research topics, something I would have to do in advance to anticipate students wanting to take the opportunity. After all, these are highly motivated students I’m talking about.

And, would these research papers be punitive? If so, then its not worth doing. Why create more work for my students if it does not reinforce learning the content I wanted them to know in the first place.

Part 4: The Solution

One thing that I would definitely like to do is create a menu of research questions/topics from which students must choose to present on at least once/twice per marking period. These presentations could be “multimedia” (podcast, blog, video, oral, paper, etc.). Questions would range from historical to analytical. Quizzes could be made up by completing additional questions from that list.

Now I think I’m on to something!

This year, all students will be required to present on one topic of their choice from a list of topics that I provide. This list will grow throughout the year; as I find new topics I will simply add them to the list. These presentations can use any media and will be graded using a rubric that I will have to make that assesses their understanding of the topic that they are presenting on.

If students miss class, they can make up the quiz by presenting on another topic of their choice.

Note: exceptions will of course be made for long-term extenuating circumstances (i.e. illness or tragedy).

This should a.) make absences undesirable, and b.) encourage in-depth study in psychology, and c.) actually boost the students grade by allowing them the opportunity to turn a zero into full credit.

Today being the penultimate meeting of my AP Psychology class, I asked students for feedback regarding what I have done: the activities I’ve chosen, the demonstrations I gave, my delivery method, etc. I also asked students to write a word of advice to next year’s AP Psychology class that will help them succeed.

Not surprisingly, 90% of students shared the opinion of this student:

Reading the assigned text is definitely important. It may be long. It may be boring. But, it is important. It helps fill in the gaps in the lessons and is often quiz material.”

Also no surprise was that half of my students do not appreciate my “pop quizzes” that assess their reading comprehension - a point I also grew uncomfortable with as the year progressed. If my goal is to get students to read their textbook (which it is), then pop-quizzes have proven themselves to be a very unsuccessful tool.

The students who read textbooks read my textbook. The students who do not read textbooks, do not read my textbook. Imagine that!

So, I’m thinking of possible alternatives (in no particular order):

• Five-question quizzes at the start of every class over the section of the textbook I will be covering that day (believe it or not, this was suggested by a number of students).
• Ten-question quizzes at the start of every class. Five questions from the previous lesson. Five question over the section of the textbook to be covered that day. This will reward studying while reducing the harmful effects of bad quiz scores on the overall grade.
• Reading journals to either supplement or supplant quizzes. If supplemental, make them worth more than the quizzes. Collect a random sample of reading journals each class for assessment.
• Student wiki of psychological concepts to be updated by students throughout the year. This would be a challenge to a) grade, and b) preventing social loafing.

All just thoughts at this point. Luckily, I have about 3 months to think about it!

As the year comes to an end, it’s time for reflection.

I spent about two class periods last year working on management. Next year, I’ll spend two weeks.

• I want papers typed in APA format. So, I need to have them submit a “mock-paper” in APA format!
• I want assignments turned in on time. I know that it seems like late papers shouldn’t be that big a deal, but when the end of the year comes and I can’t assign a due date without 50% of the students turning in papers late, I have a serious problem! Next year, late assignments will not be accepted. Extensions must be approved in writing, and their will be no garauntee of approval.
• Reading quizzes every day. Two consecutive scores below 60% will warrant a call home.
• Syllabus outlining the entire year (readings, assignments, projects, etc. all included). Since high school is too unpredictable to provide dates, I will use units and days (example: Cognition: Day 1, Cognition: Day 2, etc.).
• Seating chart dictated by their chosen seat on the second day of class. After that, I will choose where they sit. No exceptions. I am too unorganized to do this in any other way!
• Room and row captains. Sounds elementary, but row captains will be responsible for passing out and collecting work and handouts for absent students in their rows. Room captains will help pass out work collected during the previous class. I need structure; this should get me there.
• Kleenex boxes for extra credit.
• Reading logs?
• One-minute papers at the end of each class.
• More online assignments and assessment (to be thought about this summer).

Thoughts and feedback requested.

At the end of last year, I asked my principal what I should do about my Psychology textbooks considering the 60 students signed up for AP Psychology the next year; the books on the shelf were tattered and very outdated. He recommended that we buy new textbooks, and this summer we did just that.

Shopping for textbooks was interesting. I’ve never been a fan of textbooks, so I found very little fun in the process. Although, I did like the concept of free books from blood-sucking publishers. My shopping got me 6 - 8 college-level Intro to Psychology books. It was like Christmas, only nerdier.

I chose the book that was a) easiest for me to read, b) highly recommended, and c) popular. I made the right choice by going with Psychology 8th edition by David Meyers (Worth Publishers), 2006. Here’s what a student wrote, unsolicited, on my course web-page:

Though i don’t like to read much, this book makes me feel like i am someone. It actually has a voice and speaks to me as if I was listening to someone read it.

-Tuba Steve

It’s always nice when a pedagogical tool does what it’s supposed to do. Thank you, David Myers. Thank you, Tuba Steve.

Having shiny new textbooks is one thing; getting students to read them is another. While I don’t know what percentage of students actually read the textbook before coming to class, I like to think that my methods are encouraging:

• random quizzes designed to check understanding of topics before I present them.

• tests that are quite difficult to ensure that more than surface knowledge is necessary in order to score well.

If you’ve ever sat through my class, you know that it is nothing but a proverbial “carrot” on a daily basis. I like to have fun; I like to entertain my students with the content that I teach. I demonstrate, I poke fun, and I laugh. They laugh, too.

For this reason, students are frequently surprised by the rather abrasive “stick” that I use get them to study outside of class.

My quizzes and tests are that stick. They prevent students from simply “attending the Malley show” as I put it today in class. I don’t show up to school on a daily basis to put on an information session; I show up to teach. Teaching is a silly word in the absence of learning.