Finals!

It's that time of year - finals started yesterday.  I gave one exam today, give one tomorrow, and finish up with two on Friday.  I don't usually give multiple choice tests, but finals are the one exception.  It's such a busy time that turning the grading over to a machine is a huge help!  

This is my first year teaching German 3, so I was writing that test from scratch, and it took me the most time.  Since I taught German 2 last year, I at least had something to start from, and that one went pretty quickly.  

It takes me longer to write a multiple choice test, but once that's done, the grading is a snap. In fact, my school has installed an app on our iPads called All in Learning.  It lets me scan the students' tests as they turn them in and give them immediate feedback (if they want it) about how they did.  

We have 1 hour and 36 minute exam periods.  (We're on a block schedule, so regular classes are only slightly shorter - 1 hour and 25 minutes.)  My German 2 students took the 75 question multiple choice test and then when they had finished, they came to my desk to do the speaking portion and to have their answer sheet scanned.  It worked very well - today was my biggest class, and I was able to do the speaking test with everyone, though it did take the entire period.  The biggest difficulty was that students sometimes had to wait for several minutes after finishing the multiple choice before I could do their speaking test because several students finished at the same time.  They weren't allowed to use their cell phones or get out other materials because they still had their tests in hand, and some of my students are not very good at waiting.  Maybe it's time for the Cookie Monster video about patience and self-control!