Molly wrote: "I am in my first year of teaching at a small private college. I only > have 3 students in my class! I just gave an exam on 2 chapters and had > a D and 2 F's. And this was a computer-generated exam from the test > bank that came with the text! I had even given them a study guide, > which I wrote after I had made up the exam." > First I need to say that many new prof, fresh out of prestigious UG and graduate institutions often have expectations that are too high. This is not to say that many of your students aren't truly as bad as you describe. They often are but try to guard against exceptionally high expectations at first. Better to err on the easy side initially and then get tougher as you get a better feel for the lay of the land. this is especially good advice for new, untenured people even if it is a bit cynical. As for test bank questions: They are often trivial. Try writing 100 questions on a chapter some time. After 30 or 40 questions you have trouble finding more that aren't trivial or convoluted. The solution: pick your items very carefully. Eliminate those with tricky wording and pick mostly questions on substantive issues that were covered both in class and in the book. (That also helps attendance.) Volunteer to have extra review sessions with the students. If you do these things, you'll still find lots of Ds and Fs but you won't beat yourself up so much when you have to give them the grades they deserve! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Edward I. Pollak, Ph.D. Office: 610-436-3151 Department of Psychology Home: 610-363-1939 West Chester Univ. of PA Fax: 610-436-2846 West Chester, PA 19383 www.wcupa.edu/_academics/sch_cas.psy/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Husband, Father, Grandfather-to-be, Biopsychologist, Bluegrass Fiddler and herpetoculturist. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
