The following is a follow-up to my post on redos and retakes.
Implementing redos and retakes takes extra time and effort,
but the following guidelines minimize teacher effort and maximizes student
learning.
1.
To ensure students understand your high
standards, instead of assigning A-F grades, use A, B and Not Yet. The Not Yet
tells students that you are not yet satisfied with their learning, but have
faith in their ability to learn.
2.
When students fail a quiz, test or project,
require them to complete a Retake Ticket or Reflection like this one. The
Retake Ticket requires students to reflect how they prepared for the original
assessment, describe how they’ll prepare differently and includes requirements
and due dates. Some teachers require parent signatures on the form or an
informal meeting with the student.
3.
One of the most important aspects of redos and
retakes is that corrective instruction should occur. Originally, I required
each student to attend an after-school study session, but this proved too
burdensome for some students. Instead, I created a series of podcasts and
worksheets for students. I also made use of youtube videos, graphic organizers
and study guides.
4.
Don’t let students off the hook. Require that
they complete all missing assignments before retaking the quiz/test.
5.
If students are retaking a quiz/test, don’t use
the same test. The idea behind redos and retakes is for the students to master
the essential understandings not to memorize the answers (A, B, D, D, C, F,
etc. or Rome, Caesar, Pax Romana, Increased, etc).
6.
Instead of using the same test, change the
question style from a multiple choice to short answer or essay.
7.
Another strategy I used was instead of requiring
a retest, have the student show mastery in another manner (essay, project,
etc.)
8.
For students who were close to achieving mastery
on a quiz, instead of requiring students do go through several hoops and
hurdles, I met with the students and discussed the quiz’s content with the
students to see if they mastered the essentials. These brief discussions were
great timesavers and allowed me to provide pinpointed and individualized
instruction and allowed students to prove they mastered the essential
understandings.
9.
Don’t average the scores. The new score should
replace the old one. Mastery is mastery. It shouldn’t matter if it took the
student one or three attempts to master the essentials.
10. Don’t
redo or retest on everything. Each of my tests was divided into sections based
on various standards. If a student did poorly on one section, but did well on
the rest of the sections, only require the student to retake the “poor
section.”
11. Everyone
is eligible for retakes and redos. High-achieving students who earned B on
quizzes, were allowed retakes.
12. If
a student continually fails—and I did have them—focus on improvement and seek
answers to why this student is struggling.
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