I use a textbook for my San Elijo class, and the weekly quizzes are from the textbook. The purpose of the readings is to give them the context of the era we’ll be studying that week. I want them to read before coming to class. I’ve created a “study guide” that is really just a list of all possible questions.
Previously, I gave the quiz first thing on Monday, trying to guarantee they’d have their “head in the game” so I could lecture.
This didn’t work. We grade the quizzes together right away, so by the break they know what they got. It seemed to cause Topic Fatigue – they were done with that chapter, so didn’t pay much attention to my lecture, and weren’t all that interested. And the scores! Well, I would have to harangue them about studying for the quizzes. Is this what I’m teaching college for? Continue reading