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Fireflyscout
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| Joined: | Sun Mar 5th, 2006 |
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| Posts: | 186 |
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Posted: Sat Jul 12th, 2008 10:29 pm |
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Here's a link to an interesting article by an AP US History exam scorer:
http://chronicle.com/jobs/news/2008/07/2008071101c.htm
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MaizeBlue
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Posted: Sun Jul 13th, 2008 02:16 am |
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Thanks, Fireflyscout for the link to Prof. Phelps AP Reader diary. I was reading in Louisville also that week, although grading a different subject for my third year in a row. +/- 4000 AP readers were in Louisville that week and he provided a nice description of his experience. I don't know if he'll be back, but for a high school AP teacher this opportunity is the best professional development available. I learn so much from student responses (other than mine) and from the gurus in my subject area who are test development committee members, question leaders, and textbook authors. I'll be going back as often as they ask me.
To encourage comity, the Voice From Above says that neither high-school teachers nor university professors are superior as AP readers, but I conclude that that is false: High-school teachers are, in fact, superior. They are better at adapting to the evaluation criteria because they work closely with the AP curriculum every year, and they impress me with their command of obscure factual information about the topic we are marking.
I heartily agree with his assessment. High school readers are paired with college readers and I often have to explain how a student could have come to a certain conclusion based upon my knowledge of the course syllabus, pedagogy, use of high school available technology (calculators, minimal software), current or old AP textbooks, etc.
Last edited on Sun Jul 13th, 2008 02:28 am by MaizeBlue
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MaizeBlue
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Posted: Sun Jul 13th, 2008 02:22 am |
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| I forgot to add that his 4-star hotel was not the norrm. The Holiday Inn housed the vast majority of readers in my subject. For readings that take place on college campuses, a single dorm room is provided.
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Wstrdg
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| Joined: | Mon Mar 6th, 2006 |
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| Posts: | 423 |
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Posted: Sun Jul 13th, 2008 03:52 pm |
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MaizeBlue, did you find many "This is Sparta" on your papers? My kids didn't hear about the prank until after the exams, but they laughed and laughed.
http://www.examiner.com/a-1443213~This_is_Sparta____Facebook_prank_or_political_statement_.html
and here: http://www.insidebayarea.com/ci_9579769?source=most_emailed
Thousands of AP exam graders are scratching their heads right about now, wondering why 34,261 students wrote — and then carefully crossed out — "This is Sparta!" on their AP European history essays, "Es gibt Sparta!" on the AP German exam and "f'(x)=0 when x=this is sparta" on their AP Calc test sheets.
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Fireflyscout
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Posted: Sun Jul 13th, 2008 04:37 pm |
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I was also wondering about the "This is Sparta!" prank. To my horror, my son did insert it (and strike it out) in his US History essay about Vietnam - he claimed it made sense.
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SoCalMom
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| Joined: | Fri May 16th, 2008 |
| Location: | California USA |
| Posts: | 67 |
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Posted: Sun Jul 13th, 2008 05:27 pm |
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Regarding the "This is Sparta! prank on the AP exams ...
I related the story to my son. I figured he find it amusing since he told me the students in the 3 AP Euro History classes wanted to include this phrase on their end of the year t-shirt (the teacher nixed the idea.)
Well, guess what? He, too, was part of this nationwide prank. Thanfully, it was harmless and for the article, it sounds like some of the graders were amused by it. As my son called it, he got a 4 on the AP Euro History exam so he was satisfied.
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MaizeBlue
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Posted: Sun Jul 13th, 2008 10:53 pm |
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We saw very few Sparta references on the exams scored in our "room". I saw exactly 2 in 7 days of grading. The phrases were not crossed out and filled the entire response area (I guess those kids couldn't follow instructions here either). While the FR questions we score require written explanations, they are not essays. It appears that the subjects with essay responses received many more hits, although there wasn't any buzz about it at all amongst those subject's readers at the dinner table each night.
I wonder how the article got the 34,261 number as I find it hard to believe someone was counting the number of exams that contained a Sparta response. A score of 0 is earned for a question that has a subject related, but incorrect, response. A non-score is earned if the response is off-topic or left blank. If they counted all of the non-scores, that would include other things other than Sparta references.
Last edited on Sun Jul 13th, 2008 11:00 pm by MaizeBlue
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