Candide 13 - An In-Class Essay
"Writing is the painting of the voice.” Voltaire
Candide 12 - An Exam : This is the first exam for the World Literature Class. I considered doubling this lesson with the In-Class Essay Lesson, however, I just think it's too important to not stand on its own. How can an exam be important? I believe a well-written exam is a work of art. Everyday in my classroom, there was a quiz. Quizzes are nonthinking, noncomprehension (of the bigger picture), and designed soley to see if the student did the reading. Exams are designed to see if the student has been putting together what they got out of the book with their reading together with the class, the activities, the group works, etc. See my page on Quizzes & Exams
Lesson Overview
It is more than possible to write an exam that requires thinking and does not try to "trick" the student - but rather to try and assess how much the student has been paying attention in class to what's been going on. Candide is the first of these. It is also important to give thoughtful multiple choice exams because it is the kind of thing that the students may encounter again and again in their academic lives - starting with their ACT/SAT tests - and later in college. For my exams - I always try to give 5 possible answers - 4 of them plausable - though only one is correct - and one that is a kind of joke. First, to make it easier, second to put them at ease. While my quiz average for students that did the reading hovered at about 92% - my exam average was usually around 70%. I don't think that makes it a bad exam - I think it is another tool to try to get students to study and to process what happens in class.
The ESSAY - AP Literature and Composition
The Essay (AP Literature & Composition) Docx PDF - This version was made for my AP Literature and Composition class. The prompt is modeled after similar AP essay questions. There is a matching AP Workshop Handout found directly below.
Candide In-Class Essay Workshop (AP Literature) Docx PDF This handout is designed for two partners to use in going over the Candide Essay (see directly above) that they just finished (or finished the day before in class). There are focus questions and grading guidelines to try and give them an approximation of how they would have done had this been an AP Test. After they were finished - I grade them myself - and found not a lot of difference.
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Thoughts on the Lesson
I am pretty proud of my essays - but am especially proud of the AP Literature essays that I designed over the one year that I taught. I put a lot of work into making them as close to what the students would get on the AP Exam as possible - and I know that my students told me they felt very comfortable when it came time to take that test.