Midterms - Day Eight Online

Hopefully more of the left than the right.

Today was the dreaded midterm test. Our eighth class, but we've done three extra activities on the side to make up for the lost time from our delayed start to the term and a few holidays in the schedule. 

The students were worried because anything we've learned so far could be on it. I was nervous because this was my first time setting it up online.

And of course there was a hick-up. Or two. The first link I sent students claimed it was "expired". I still haven't worked why, but I was able to send a new link and that worked fine. Until a few students noticed that they could only enter numbers as answers for two of the questions in section one. Since we were in the virtual classroom while they were taking the test, I just asked them to send their answers to those questions via the chat function. It's a little work for me but hopefully it eased their minds that there was an immediate solution.

All in all, not a disaster.

So what was on the test? 

Section one was analysing a passage. They had to tell me what genre it was and what words implied this genre; what plot points were covered by the extract; formatting issues in the layout; and then a couple of explanations about how the story shows instead of tells, or when it should do this.

For example, "why is the word clicked used instead of tapped?" "Which word could replace 'desperately' in text?"

If I show you the story, would you be able to answer?

Write your test answers in the comments section. ;)

Section two had a story arc that students had to read and then turn into prose. They had to select two sections of the story arc to write as 3-5 sentences which must include use of figurative language and senses. Continuity, understanding, along with general punctuation and grammar in the piece, as a rough draft, are assessed.

How would you add your own voice to make this into a real story?

This is a good way to get a sense of who has understood the concepts and how to execute them. There are always some who write too much, and ones who keep sentences running on too long. Those are often the ones who finish early. Others stick too close to the story arc syntax while a few stray too far away. One or two surprise me with their gentle and effective use of language to add more to the story than what I'd simply stated in the outline.

Best get to grading. And making notes on their short story drafts!