WHAT NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS SHOULD I HAVE MADE?

I always like New Year’s.  I like the feel of freshness and optimism that comes from having the chance to start a brand-new year.  Except that it can be cold, it is one of my favorite days year in and year out.

I usually make one or two resolutions every new year.  This provides me with the chance to think rather deeply about what part of my life I want to focus on in the days, weeks, and months that are ahead.  How do I want to be better in 365 days than I am right now?  I take these resolutions seriously because they serve as a guiding light as I move through each new year.

This morning I was thinking back on the past 51.5 years of my teaching and I started wondering what teaching resolutions I should have made 20, 30, 40 or more years ago.  If I could go back to 1986 or 1974 or 1993 where should I have put my focus so that I would teach better right then (and, hopefully, be teaching better now).

If I were to discover a magic portal so that I could go back to a much younger version of myself, what resolutions would I have given to that poor, young, and inexperienced teacher?

Three things came to my mind without too much thought.  So, here are my new year’s resolutions for Joe for (let’s say) 1971.

1 – Learn how to test better.  If you test memorization, your students will assume that what you really want from them is memorization.  That is a natural conclusion.  I think this one resolution, more than any other, can help you grow as a teacher.  Testing just sets the tone for everything else you do in a class.

Here is one hint that has helped me over the last 10-15 years.  Type up a test for your students and give yourself plenty of time so that you don’t get rushed.   Then, immediately, type up a detailed answer sheet.  Typing up those answers will give you a sense of the true complexity of each question.  What percentage of A students should get this question correct?  B students?   C students?  Why would a student miss this question?  What knowledge is required to work this question?  What level of thinking is required?   Reading a question and then evaluating it is risky.  Take the time to type out your answer just as if you were one of the students.

I have not given a test in many years where I did not type out an answer sheet in advance and use that process to evaluate each question.  Why am I including the question?  How will it help me differentiate the depth of a student’s understanding? 

More than anything else you do, the time you spend writing a test and answering it will improve the learning of your students.  This is the easiest way to get their attention and show them what you really want them to learn.

2 – Do everything you can to get your students to prepare before they arrive at class EVERY DAY.  Let’s be honest.  Most students have rarely had classes that required them to prepare.  Preparation is a foreign concept to them.  Consequently, for many, note taking is a more important skill than preparation.  In my opinion, most students underprepare for every single class.  Therefore, when class begins, they don’t know what you are talking about so they madly copy down notes in hopes of figuring it all out later.  And, most professors let them get away with that.   That is embarrassing or, at least, it should be embarrassing. 

Don’t be innocently delusional.  Ask yourself one essential question at the start of every class, “If I stopped right now and asked five easy questions based on the suggested class preparation, how many students would get all five correct?”  I don’t expect perfection, but I would hope in my classes that 100 percent of my students would get at least 4-5 of those questions.  That will give them a foundation to build on during the class session.

You’ll be amazed how smart your students suddenly become if you can get them to prepare before they arrive at class.  And, you’ll be pleased by how much more readily they will become engaged in class.  Few students want to talk if they don’t know what the class is talking about.

I cold call on my students from the time they walk into the room until they walk out of the room.  The questions are constant, not now and then.  This is simply the way I teach.  I give students daily assignments in advance and then start probing into those assignments through my class questions. 

I do this for one reason – it forces the students to prepare. 

Students hate this approach for about one week and then they begin to realize that they like being actively engaged in the class.  Don’t let that first week frighten you off.  One anonymous student on my student evaluations for the fall semester wrote, “His system of calling on students during class makes it all more engaging. I think the Business School should make cold calling a mandatory part of every class.”

Last night, I was watching an old television show and they were discussing a line from Confucius that was written about 2,500 years ago.   “Success depends upon previous preparation, and without such preparation there is sure to be failure.” 

2,500 years might have passed but I cannot think of a single thing I would prefer for my students to ponder as they get ready for the coming semester.

3 – Don’t get caught up in grade inflation.  When I graduated as an undergraduate student, I had earned a grade point average of 2.72.   I actually have my transcript  sitting over here on a book case.  What I find most interesting is that I graduated in the upper 36 percent of my class.  Nowadays, because of grade inflation, a 2.72 would be looked at as the bottom of the barrel, but, for me, I was in the top 36 percent.  Grades have changed that significantly over the years.  Most grades at most schools are A’s.

One of my all-time favorite quotes comes from the movie A League of Their Own.   

   "It's supposed to be hard. If it wasn't hard, everyone would do it. The hard... is what makes it great."   

The hard is what makes it great.   What a great quote.  I often think that grade inflation has robbed college students of some of the spectacular thrill of working hard and making an A and I think that is sad.  If 50 to 90 percent of your students make an A, why would anyone get excited by an A?  I’m not in favor of giving no A’s but, next week, on the first day of class, I will write on the board in big letters, “A means Excellent.”  I will then turn to my students and look them in the eye and say, “I know what excellent work is and so do you.  If you give me excellent work, you will make an A.  If you don’t give me excellent work, you will not make an A.”    And, they will understand what I mean.

Learn how to test better.

Do everything you can to get your students to prepare before they arrive at class. 

Don’t get caught up in grade inflation. 

I could have come up with 15 more resolutions.  Nevertheless, if I had told these three to my younger self way back in 1971, I imagine they would have helped me on my long slow path to becoming a teacher. 

Happy New Year!!!!

THE FINAL EXAM – TRYING SOMETHING DIFFERENT

I have always been frustrated by how I could better use the final examination each year.  My hourly exams throughout the semester typically go into depth about a few topics that have been covered extensively over the past few weeks.  That makes sense to me.  The results seem reasonable.  


For my classes, a final examination covers a massive amount of material, much of which has not been reviewed by the students in several months.   Students often appear unsure as to how to prepare and how to allocate their time.  Over the past 49 years, they have often arrived at the final exam ill-prepared, moaning that their preparation made them more confused and less confident.  They then leave 3 or 4 hours later mumbling that they, “Had not expected to see those questions.”  They had guessed at the topics and had guessed wrong.  Their grades suffered.  I am not sure what that proves.  What is the benefit in that?


For me, the final exam seemed a poor ending to what was often an excellent semester.  The students frequently left discouraged and I had to curve the exam heavily in order to have a legitimate distribution.  To be honest, the final exam felt like a “downer” and I didn’t like that type of conclusion for my course.


During the past two semesters, I have changed my approach to the final exam and, truthfully, I am much happier with the results.  Perhaps this proves that an old dog can figure out some new tricks.  


Now, about 10 days before the final exam, I create 25-30 final exam questions that cover the entire semester at the depth that I believe is appropriate.  Each question is designed to take between 4 minutes and 10 minutes to resolve.  Each question contains at least one variable such as a cost or a life span or an interest rate or preferred method.  If I were teaching art history, I could write a preliminary question about Raphael knowing that I could switch the question to Botticelli or Monet on the actual final.


One week before the final exam, I give all of the questions to my students and tell them that these are the questions they will face on their final exam.  I warn them very carefully that, on the actual final, I will change at least one of the variables for each question.  The question will be basically the same but some variable will be different.  Perhaps Raphael will become Botticelli.


A buyer might be turned into a seller.

A ten-year period of time might be increased to 20 years.

A loan of $100,000 might become a loan of $200,000.

A piece of equipment might become a piece of land.

An event occurring within the U.S. might be moved to a foreign country.


I told the students that they could talk with each other if they liked (I probably couldn’t stop them any way and I don’t like putting up rules that I cannot enforce).


Almost immediately, the students began to organize themselves in order to prepare.  Their study tactics were not based on trying to guess at topics or remember hundreds of pages of material, much of which might not even appear on the exam.  Now, they had to learn how to work 30 very precise and complicated problems.  They studied in groups.  They helped each other.  They talked through the problems to determine how each one should be solved.  They discussed how variables might be changed.  They gave each other encouragement and support.


They thought about the questions.  They began to understand better.


The changes I made to the questions were not easy.  The students had to think about what was different and how that affected the determination of a solution.  But, that was what they had expected.  On the actual exam, no one got all 30 correct but most of the students were able to get 80 percent or more.  I thought that was good given the complexity of the subject and the difficulty of the questions.  I still applied a very slight curve. Unfortunately, a few students made an F.  Even with the questions, their knowledge was shaky.  


What did I see as the benefits to this change?


(1) – Without a doubt, the final exam became a learning process.  I am completely convinced that almost every student learned a considerable amount through their attempts to figure out how the basic questions were to be solved.  I felt that they had gained understanding.  How could I want more than that?  It became less of a test and more of a learning exercise.  


(2) – It was a team building exercise.  There were no instructions on how to prepare.  They had to decide whether to study together or apart and, if together, how could that be organized.  I loved walking through the halls and seeing them huddled together in small or large groups working through their problems.


(3) – My feeling was that the students left the final exam with a more positive attitude towards themselves.  A great many of them managed to answer most of the questions correctly.  I don’t want my students leaving on the last day feeling defeated.  I always want a more positive outcome.


(4) – The grades on the final exam were not based on which students could best anticipate the topics to be covered.  Yes, they did have to consider how the variables would be altered but no one could say, “I studied several topics for hours and they didn’t even appear on the exam.”  I seriously wanted to reduce the gambling aspect of exam preparation.


What should you do now?  Well, if you are happy with your final exam, I wouldn’t do anything.  Experiments and evolution should occur where there is a problem.  


If you are not totally happy with the present results, do what I did:  Pick one class for the next semester and try some variation of this idea.  See what you think.  You cannot experiment purely in your head.  At some point, you have to go out and try an idea and see what results you get and whether you like those results or not.

Thoughts on Making Testing a Better Process – Part Two – The Final Examination

Before Beginning.  I attempt to read an hour each day.  I believe it is good for the mind to see and hear words formed into interesting sentences and insightful paragraphs.  In addition, I collect words that I read if I am not certain of the meaning.  I have 110 on that list so far in 2019.  My favorite new word for 2019 is “rodomontade” which means boastful or inflated talk or behavior.

Occasionally, as I read, something will strike me as pertaining to teaching, often in some indirect manner.  That happened this morning as I listened to, The Clockmaker’s Daughter, by Kate Morton.  A renowned cellist recalls her emotions as she walked on stage to play.

     “Live performance is the precipice on which fear, anticipation, and joy met.  A unique     experience 

       shared between audience and performer.”

To me, that sounds similar to how I feel each day as I walk the 50 paces or so from my office to my classroom.  Even after 48 years, it remains the precipice on which my fear, anticipation, and joy all meet.  Next time you walk to your classroom, search your own head to see if you have those three emotions in relatively equal proportions.  If not, maybe that is one place you can start your expedition toward becoming a better teacher.  Perhaps, the first step to improvement is in your head.

**

Blog Posting.  I have written almost obsessively over the years about the need to experiment as a required step for improved teaching.  Because your semester probably ended in the last few weeks, take a moment to count how many teaching experiments you tried and then judge how they worked.  Will you do some of them again in the fall?  How will you modify them before you try again?

In designing experiments, I like to focus on aspects of my course that are not going as well as I would like.  This semester, I decided to play around with the final examination—how could I use it to help my students better learn and understand.  It should not be just a torture device.

In my classes, we cover a lot of material over several months and then I give a four-hour final exam.  My complaint has always been that the students try to cover everything during their review sessions and often wind up at the mercy of studying the right topic.  They prepare so randomly that they often scramble up the knowledge in their heads rather than organize it.  For years, I have allowed them to bring in 4-6 sheets of notes to the final exam.  In that way, they do not need to attempt to cram all that material into their memory.  They read the questions and then consult their notes before working to solve the problem.

Nevertheless, there is still a “surprise” element in this approach.  In their note taking, students must anticipate what I will cover.  The grade difference between a student who guesses correctly and one who does not can be staggering.  That bothers me a bit.  I want them to use their study time to increase their understanding and then show that understanding to me.  Their grade should not be based on the luck of guessing my topical coverage.

This semester I tried something new.  I am not sure this would work in every course but some variation could work in many classes.  I walked in to class one week before the final examination and gave out 27 questions that I believed should be the foundation for our entire semester.  I felt these questions should each take between 3 minutes and 8-10 minutes to work.  I told the students that I was going to give them those questions as their final examination.  However, for each question, I would change one or more of the included variables.

--A monetary cost might be higher or lower.

--An interest rate might be changed.

--Expected revenue could be altered.

 --The number of years involved could be different.

The final exam would be those 27 basic questions but they would each have different variables.  The students did not believe me at first.  It seemed too easy.  They quickly came to see that the questions were all complicated.  But they had a week to work them and consider what I might change.  I eliminated the topical surprise element.  My parting words to them were key, “If you truly understand how to work these 27 questions, then you should get them all correct and will deserve to make 100.”

What happened?   I actually wrote 31 problems because I changed the variables in four questions twice.  Most of the students stayed for at least 3 ½ hours.  23 of my students made roughly the same on the final exam as they did in the course as a whole (a difference of 3 points are less).  Only 11 of the students made a lot less on the final exam than their grades for the course (the final exam was more than 3 points less than their overall averages).  For whatever reason, they did not enough benefit from having the questions in advance.  Only 13 of the students made a grade on the final exam that was much higher than their course grade (the final exam was more than 3 points higher than their overall averages.)   In truth, grades were affected less than I had expected.  Good students seemed to get good grades and struggling students seemed to get poorer grades.  Nevertheless, I felt the purpose of the final exam had been changed for me.  I believe most of the students used their time to really try to learn the material because they had a version of the actual questions.  I boiled the entire final exam experience for them down to two challenges:

“(1) – Can you work this question?

 “(2) – Can you still work this question if I change a few of the variables?

“Don’t try to relearn the entire semester.  Make sure you can work and understand these 27 questions.”

Added Benefit.  I told the students that they could work together before the final exam.  Because they had the questions in hand, they immediately began to create group sessions for the class where they studied together for hours to work those 27 questions.  Several students told me personally how much they had enjoyed studying with their fellow students to get ready for the final exam.  One wrote to me, “I have truly enjoyed being in your class, and while it was often intimidating, I know that I grew as both a student and a person this past semester. Also, I met a ton of people in the class and made more friends than I could have ever expected; the dynamic of the class truly encourages people to work together and collaborate, which is oftentimes hard to find."  I had never gotten messages like these before after a final exam.  “…made more friends than I could have ever expected.”  That alone makes me interested in trying it again next fall.

If you want to improve, you have to experiment.  Focus on something in your class that you think could use some work.  Try to do it differently.  Observe how it goes.

Offer.  I realize that most of my readers do not teach accounting but I will make this offer anyway.  If you will send a note to Jhoyle@richmond.edu, I will send you the 27 questions that I presented to the students in advance of the final exam and the 31 questions that I actually used on the final exam.  It might help you think about how you could do something similar.

Thoughts on Making Testing A Better Process – Part One –The Five C’s of Good Test Taking

This is the 278th essay on teaching that I have posted on this blog.  A few minutes ago, I checked and the previous 277 essays (all written by me except for one or two) have had an average readership equal to 1,755 page views.  For me, that is a thrilling number.  When I first started, the mere possibility of amassing 1,755 readers on all blog postings combined would have amazed me beyond words.  I do hope these 277 ideas, discussions, and suggestions have improved education a bit here and there, now and then.

I am a well aware that I would have had almost no page views if it were not for the many people who forward the URL for this site to friends, relatives, enemies, strangers, colleagues, and the like.  I do not always say it but please do know that I always think it:  THANKS A MILLION!!!   The sole idea for this blog from the first day until now is that each teacher can (and should) keep improving and it really helps if teachers exchange ideas.  So, again, THANKS for making this possible by passing along the message when it seems worthy.

**

Here at the end of the semester, it is not surprising that I am thinking about the purpose of testing.  How can I make the process more beneficial for my students?   This is the first of a two-part series on testing.

Teachers must assess grades.  I have often pondered why I need to give each student a grade.  What does it accomplish?   I think it is helpful to consider why the process is necessary so you can make it as efficient as possible.  This is not rocket science but I assume there are two reasons for grades.

(1) – The teacher wants the student (and any future readers of the student’s transcript) to know an approximation of the student’s understanding of the course material.  If I take a course in the American Civil War and earn a B, then I can assume that I have achieved a good level of knowledge but not an excellent one.  After a semester of work, that is helpful feedback even if it is only a rough assessment.

(2) – The teacher uses grades to motivate students to do work.  We are not always willing to discuss that reality openly but it clearly is the truth.  Anyone who has ever taught a pass-fail course likely knows that the work rarely rises above average.  We do not live in a Utopian society where students work for the sheer love of learning.  Consequently, the hope of an A or a B is a carrot that drives some students to excel.  The threat of a D or an F serves as a stick that pushes other students to do work even when they have little interest or enthusiasm.

Whatever the reason, we want those grades to be fair and reasonable.

A teacher can determine grades in multiple ways using various combinations of testing, papers, presentations, quizzes, and other assessments.  I have tried them all over the past 48 years and they each have their drawbacks.  Presentations take significant class time and often interest a few students while the rest struggle to stay awake.  Papers provide a deep education on a narrow topic but do not address the broad coverage that is necessary in most courses.  Quizzes have a “Surprise!” theme that I do not like and can reward students for the luck of having prepared on the right topic on the right day.  Tests do allow for a much broader coverage of topics but can be terribly stressful.  They can lead students to “cram and memorize” – hardly the goal of a modern-day college education.

Probably because of the subject matter that I teach, I award grades primarily through testing.  I realize the shortcomings of that approach so I do try to work around that.  For example, I allow my students to bring in notes with them.  I believe that limits the tendency to “cram and memorize.”  Why memorize if you can write something down and bring it with you to the test?

More importantly, I work almost every day to connect our daily learning to an eventual test.  “We will work odd and unusual problems in class each day so you can eventually work them on a test” is kind of our class mantra.  “We will do this together until you can do this alone” provides a positive statement about learning.  I love the idea that if students work hard in each class, then they will be ready to excel on each test.  That connection should be obvious, I think.  Do your students have that belief?

However, students are human and they have often suffered through a lot of “interesting” education over the years.  As each test draws near, they often become stressed out and fall back on bad study habits.  Therefore, before the last hourly test of the spring semester, I sent them the following email.  I call this my Five C’s for Testing.  I want them to focus on certain positive attributes of the testing process and how they should react.  If they have done the work during class, then they should be able to do well on the test.  In testing, my goal is to help them show me what they have truly learned.  Ultimately, I would love for each student to be able to say, “I learned the material during our class sessions so I was able to demonstrate that on the test.”  That, for me, is a worthy goal.   And, I think the Five C’s for Testing helps get the students to that goal.

Helping students to be successful is clearly a worthy goal for every teacher.

**

Email to my students four days before their last hourly exam of the semester.

Now, just a word of two of advice.  As I have said before, I am a believer in the five C's for testing (and for life in general).

Calm -- getting nervous does not do you any good.  Take a walk and let your muscles and your brain relax to help get yourself calm.   Don't skip sleep because lack of sleep will kill your calmness.

Careful -- read the questions carefully and don't make silly mistakes.  2 + 2 is not 5.   I try to write each question so that the words tell you what to do.  Read them carefully.  Use your hand or a straight-edge to focus your attention on each individual line.

Connect -- regardless of what you might think, the questions do not come from outer space.  In my mind, there is always a direct connection between each question and something we have done in class.   You were here.   You paid attention.  When you face a question, ask yourself how we did something similar in class.  Nothing is more important on this test than these three words, “Make The Connection.”

Concentrate -- students always seem to be worrying about 1,000 things -- the room temperature, someone coughing, a bug walking across a table.   When you get to this test, only one thing should be on your mind -- what do the words to the first question tell you.  Then the second question and so on.  For those 80 minutes, nothing should be on your mind except the specific question you are working on and how it ties in with what we have learned in class.

Confidence -- you are all bright people.   Never doubt that.  Don't play scared.   You have earned good grades before.   You have taken hundreds if not thousands of tests.  You got accepted to this university because the admissions experts thought you should do well.  Whether you are hitting a golf ball or shooting a free throw or taking a college-level test, it is hard to win if you don't believe in yourself.  I believe in you.   Don't ever forget that.

**

A test is necessary for grading, but if you can help your students become successful, it will be amazing how much more important the entire learning process will become to them.  It should be just one more essential element in that learning.