3590. Are You Happy when You Test Your Students?

 Assessing and evaluating our students is something of a paramount importance. Is it not? 

When I began my career as a teacher I one day set my first exam to my kids. It was a class of some 25 students. You know what? I can recall it as if it was today. Some 60% of them failed! And it was a regular class, not bad, not that bad. 

One colleague of ours told me something like, “Even NN failed that exam!? It’s so weird, he’s a clever student! You may expect what his parents will say about that…!” 

NN actually was a smart and clever student, and he could hardly fail an exam… I had set a test which could be paralleled to the ones someone could expect at college, but not at early high school! It was me who had “failed”. 

Generally if at high school many, many students fail… from a regular class of kids… something about the teacher may be failing. 

When a teacher sets a test, an exam, the first point he or she is going to test and examine is himself, herself. 

One more thing: tests, exams should not be kind of a weapon thrown at your students. Mainly it should be a tool the very same students have to assess their learning, so as for them to redirect their learning ways. And that with their teacher’s help. 

The teacher should be collaborative with their students. 

He is at the front of the classroom to teach them, to help and assist them at their learning processes. There should not be any confrontation between teacher and students. There are other tools and other philosophies to control and manage classroom behavior. 

The point is: Well, I am their teacher, I have to assess and evaluate if they are learning, and how much they are learning, and how they are learning at all. And thus also I will be evaluating and assessing MY TEACHING. Especially at primary and secondary education levels. 

Teacher, you must remember you are teaching, YOU ARE EDUCATING some people that have been entrusted by their families TO YOU. You as their teacher in some way have their lives in your hands, and that is a big responsibility. You are collaborating with their parents at bringing up those kids. Their future is in your hands. 

Anyway, you are not alone: hopefully you can count on: those parents and the school administrators and your colleagues as well. Hopefully. Have a nice day.