If you couldn’t tell, I find creating assessments over cool material tremendously enjoyable. Any time I hear a good podcast or radio story, read an interesting article, or pick up a good book, my mind often jumps to finding sections that I could create multiple choice assessments about for my class. Granted, this is a bit…odd…but it’s kind of my jam.
I like the multiple choice format for many different reasons, but these two benefits are definitely toward the top of my list:
- It’s easy to target specific standards and content I want my students to work with.
- It’s easy to grade, and the feedback can be immediate with tools like Zipgrade, Microsoft Forms, and Google Quizzes.
Unfortunately, I think because multiple choice tests can be so easy to grade, they are often given as summative assessments or as test prep… and then…crickets. Students earn their 13/20, and everyone moves on with their lives.
I would argue this is not super helpful, and I would offer this alternative: debriefing!
Debriefing for me is the critical step AFTER the assessment has been graded to get students to further engage with content in a meaningful way. Again, what’s great about multiple choice tests is you can get information about student progress almost instantly – use that to your advantage. Below are some suggestions for debriefing purposes and some examples you may find helpful!
Using Debriefing to Help Students Develop Strategies as Readers (and Test Takers)
This first purpose is probably the most obvious and the most common. When our students get a question (or a bunch of questions) incorrect, we want to help them know WHY so they can hopefully improve in the future. In turn, look at all the questions, particularly the commonly missed, and think of ways to walk your students through approaching questions or content like this in the future.
Like many other teachers, I found myself in a position where I was teaching fully remote. When I assigned a Newsela Article and Quiz Over Baby Yoda (who I found out was a class favorite), I knew I wanted to make sure I debriefed, but also knew I had limited time for synchronous learning. In turn, I made this video walking students through how to approach each question and provided a corrective opportunity through Microsoft Teams to give them the chance to show how they reflected on how to improve in the future. (Tip – with anything relatively teacher centered – like instructional videos – it is great to consider ways for students to actively engage in these materials. Consider reflection opportunities, discussion posts, etc.)
Using Debriefing the Generate Deeper Discussion
Unfortunately, multiple choice has long been associated with rote memory, but it has the potential to be so much more. As I mentioned earlier, multiple choice often gives you the opportunity to return back to specific parts of the text you want to dig into more deeply in the debrief. You can do this by generating quizzes of your own based on the needs of your students or looking for quality pre-made materials. There are actually also some great standardized test passages out there that have the potential to generate thoughtful discussion and analysis…granted, you may have to do a bit of digging!
For example, one of my favorite practice ACT passages was taken from the essay, “Spaced Out: The Star Trek Literary Phenomenon: Where No TV Series Has Gone Before”. Clunky title; interesting topic! After assigning this passage, I did a standard debrief Prezi to help my students become better readers; I discussed approaching questions, referring back to the text, and strategies for the future.
However, why I love this article is because it really hits at how fiction – particularly science fiction – has the ability to help us address difficult topics in a less threatening and even entertaining way. This led to a great discussion and some great critical thinking about the role and purpose of fiction in my class, which I led after having students complete a simple Bell Ringer Form through Microsoft Teams. After getting the “think time” on the form, it was great to hear what my students had to say on the topic (and gave us some practice with speaking and listening standards!)
Using Debriefing to Provide Corrective Opportunities
Quick – and potentially controversial – idea about grading multiple choice…maybe don’t – or at least don’t grade it right away! I found – particularly in a remote environment – having the time restraints often seen in a standardized test helps cut down on cheating (particularly after shuffling questions and responses) and, again, provided me the opportunity to give students almost immediate feedback. (However, be mindful of the needs of your students and accomodations like extended time!) Instead of assigning a grade immediately, I often allow students a corrective on multiple choice for partial credit back. I find it keeps students engaged in the debriefing process, helping student learning. Also, it is not a ton of extra work on my end.
Here are three suggestions for debriefing to provide corrective opportunities:
- Keep students active! As you go through a debriefing, have students mark up their own passages. I recommend using a tool like PowerPoint or Prezi to help students follow along with a visual. It’s really important for students to understand citing evidence to support their answers, and simply marking up the passage and writing reflections on strategies as they go can be really helpful.
- Allow students to collaborate! Before I even debrief, I often have students work together to go over answers. Sometimes, I even put the grade at the top of the page but don’t tell them which questions they got wrong; I find this helps encourage discussion and debate. I have students mark up their answers and passages, and then we go over it as a class. This often leads to some great questioning and discussion during the debrief as well!
- Focus on the struggles! No matter how you do it, going over 50 multiple choice questions as a debrief is probably not the most engaging activity for you or your students. It is often helpful to target your debrief on the items they struggled with. You can do this by focussing on specific questions or highlighting specific standards and strategies. I recently did this with my Freshmen Reading vocab tests (we do Greek and Latin word parts, and the tests look a little like this Mandalorian themed test). I had students watch this video then fill out this form in Microsoft Teams.
Happy assessing!