Are traditional midterms going to be a thing of the past? If so, history teacher Christine Sepcie and English teacher Stacey Smith may be considered trend setters.
This year Dr. Smith and Mrs. Sepcie decided to give their students alternative midterms. Typically students sit for a two-hour test on material covered in the first half of the year, but each of these teachers did something different, and students seem to find it preferable.
Dr. Smith’s English classes had to write a personal essay on the stories they have read throughout the first half of the year. On top of that the students had to get into groups of no more than five to create either a PowerPoint presentation or a video on the tragic and epic heroes.
“I felt that it was a better way to assess because it was about students applying what they learned instead of studying the facts” said Dr. Smith.
During the two-hour block of the midterm, the students went into the auditorium to watch and present the videos/PowerPoints in front of one another.
“I liked the idea of having a group and individual project because it made us work extra hard but in the end we didn’t have as much stress,” said senior Sarah Frawley.
Ms. Sepcie’s honors history junior classes had an alternative midterm as well. The juniors were given a list of books that had a historical background covering the same years as the class’s curriculum. The Help, Unbroken, and The Things They Carried were among those books on the list. Students had to pick one book to read on their own time.
“The list was comprised of books I would love to teach as part of the class but can’t fit into the curriculum,” said Ms. Sepcie.
On the day of the midterm students had to choose one of three questions about the book they had read. Whichever question students chose, they were asked to provide multiple specific examples of how the book related to course material.
“I thought this was a really good idea because a lot of kids don’t enjoy reading anymore and this forced us to read good books” said junior Lynn Keating.