Jonathan Kleiman – Health and Nutrition Teacher
As a student, I thought tests were about me. If I failed a test, it was because I hadn’t studied hard enough or hadn’t paid enough attention in class or hadn’t risen to the bar my teacher had set. As a teacher, somehow, I still think tests are about me. I feel like I’m chasing my own tail. If my students fail a test, it’s because I didn’t present the material in a clear enough way or wasn’t engaging enough in class or set the bar too high.
No one has failed a test yet, but there have certainly been questions that nearly everyone has gotten wrong. And each incorrect answer I grade feels like a mirror turned back on me. It’s not a pretty sight.
But fortunately – and this is why I think teachers are so fanatical about their jobs – as demoralizing as 50 incorrect answers are, 50 thoughtfully argued, clearly articulated, dead-on-correct answers feel spectacular. To know that your students have understood a subject, and that they gleaned from it the nuances you hoped they would, and that they share with you your enthusiasm for the subject makes you beam.
During our unit on learning and memory, we spent two classes discussing some fairly complex, abstract ideas about how we encode information. They were a rough two classes. We struggled. The first quiz was not pretty. But together, we kept whacking away at the material and made slow but forward progress. Last week was our midterm. The final question asked students to explain what the Total Time Hypothesis is and why it is wrong. I graded 48 correct answers. One student told me after class that she finds the subject really interesting and wants to learn more. I’m beaming.
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