PROBLEM: Students refuse to read homework

SOLUTION: The TALKING QUIZ.

PROBLEM

Teachers of all subjects and all grade levels encounter the disheartening experience of standing before a group of students who have not read their homework. The students are unprepared to discuss, explore, consider or, in any other way, intellectually handle the day’s subject. The classical solution has been to threaten and give surprise quizzes. We teachers then must prepare, administer, grade, record and return yet another set of papers, or use the TALKING QUIZ.

What is a TALKING QUIZ? It’s a short student-centered quiz which warms up the class for discussion. Pair students and then give them a specific question or problem from the reading to solve within five minutes.

The students can’t refer to their books, but they can refer to their notes. They must use their memory. Nor are they required to write anything that must be given to the teacher. Students who haven’t read the material are encouraged to ask their partners to summarize the readings. After five minutes, the teacher calls “Time.” The teacher may ask the class if they would like to discuss any special problems, questions or ideas that arose during their TALKING QUIZ. The quiz is over.

“I enjoyed this type of quiz because it allows us to openly communicate

our thoughts on the chapter.”

No grades to calculate or record. No mass of loose papers to file. No time wasted returning quizzes and discussing the answers or grades.

“No learning!” some teachers might holler.

“They’ll just gossip!” another teacher may rightfully protest.

“They’ll cheat! There’s no way you can see if they read the material without a written quiz.” another teacher will sadly admit.

Not true. Writing Across the Curriculum movement, along with the Writing as a Process movement have re-introduced the social nature of learning as applied to writing. The TALKING QUIZ performs a similar service for the reading process. Students of all ages often assert that they learned morefrom their talk with their classmates ”outside the classroom, than they learned ”in the classroom. Too often, class time is simply a presentation of ideas with little training in critical thinking skills.

“I think the talking quiz helped quite a bit because I could see how others felt

about the topic. It’s always helpful to see how others’ views compare to your own.”

The TALKING QUIZ gives students the opportunity to flex their critical thinking muscles in a safe, controlled and non-judgmental intellectual environment with other students who have a somewhat equal knowledge of the material.

“My partner was very informative and I enjoyed talking to her. She gave me

some good ideas about language and its concepts.”

When the TALKING QUIZ is used regularly, social and peer pressure will gradually lessen abuse. Peer pressure works in many negative ways on young people. Teachers can encourage”positive peer pressure” by using the TALKING QUIZ. After a few times of not being prepared, students will feel peer pressure and change their behavior to be in step with the others. This may be a slow process for some students, but hopefully, the majority of students will eventually succumb to such positive peer pressure.

Changing partners for each quiz will introduce students to more diverse opinions of their classmates. It will also counteract the problem of a student always being partnered with a student who refuses to read the material.

“The talking quiz today was better than the previous talking

quizzes because my partner read the material…. I felt this

session was worthwhile because I could talk and cement the

chapter ideas in my head. However, the times when my partner

did not read the chapter or didn’t care to discuss it was a waste of time.”

The two-student pair is more effective than other groupings. With three students, one student may remain passive; with four students, the tendency to avoid discussing the reading material is too great.

“My partner was very helpful because she seemed very personal

in answering any questions I had. I feel it is great

getting things out in the open other than on paper.”

The TALKING QUIZ is best used when introduced in the beginning of the semester as a regular activity, scheduled at least once a week. The teacher should monitor the pairs the first few times, to guide students on how to ask each other questions about the material. The teacher must also be willingto accept that yes, even sometimes the best students will abuse this type of quiz. However, the benefits of the TALKING QUIZ, stretched over an entire semester, far outweigh the early stages of its misuse.

“The talking quiz may perhaps be a bad idea. When a student

realizes that a talking quiz is part of class, the temptation to

not read the material becomes overwhelming. If a grade is

not to be received, then the average student has a much lower

desire to read. If, however, a grade is at stake, the motivation

behind reading the material is much higher. I myself fell victim

to this dreadful temptation and therefore may have been more

prepared if a graded quiz was given.”

If the quiz is administered as “punishment” when the teacher feels the students haven’t prepared the reading material, this jeopardizes the joyful experience of using the quiz for exploration and critical thinking.

“I think the ungraded quiz is more effective (than graded quizzes).

It’s talking about what you read, not just memorizing material.”

Many teachers are reluctant or afraid to use teaching methods that are truly student-oriented or that are ungraded. Such teachers may feel such methods are useless, that students will abuse such freedom, or that no real learning can occur under such conditions.

Not true. Students, like people of all ages, learn from their parents, their families, their friends, community, television, hopefully from books, and lastly from teachers. An effective teacher is aware of this complex learning milieu and will work with it to help students learn. Education is more thanjust the mere transmission of facts and data. Teachers must encourage and teach critical thinking skills in the classroom. Teachers, parents and students must accept the fact that the responsibility for learning lies ultimately with the students themselves. Not even the best teacher or best parent can learn for a student. Students must learn on their own, using the social structure of the classroom to their benefit. The TALKING QUIZ fulfills student-centered educational needs and goals, for both the students and the teachers, and in an enjoyable and intellectual manner. Learning becomes the social, cooperative joy it can be.

I developed and used the TALKING QUIZ while teaching first year college composition students at the University of Wisconsin Center Fox Valley in Menasha, Wisconsin. I have quoted the class’s anonymous comments throughout this paper. After using the TALKING QUIZ a few times, I asked the students if they would like to continue the TALKING QUIZ. From twenty-five students,ÜdÜ
twenty-four said, “Yes” while only one said, “No.”

“Yes, I want to continue this ungraded quiz. I feel that I learn

and understand better when we do this. There is a discussion

on the view and it sinks into my head. Also, the quizzes (graded)

make me anxiety prone and I do not do well, nor do I learn.”