Last Tuesday both my ELM and EDP classes participated in the much anticipated Prague Pursuit—a scavenger hunt that would take us across the city and back looking for different statues, memorials, and restaurants. When we were first given the instruction sheet, I thought the tasks at hand seemed pretty difficult. However, as we went through each of the riddles and worked our way to finding the answers, it occurred to me that we were using several of the strategies and methods we’ve been discussing in class these last few weeks. For example, by working in teams we were exercising Vygotsky’s theory of cooperative learning because the problems were much easier to solve when working with other people versus working alone with no guidance. Some of the problems were easier to solve than others, and some of them required us to be very aware of our surroundings in order to find what we were looking for. It definitely helped to have toured the city a few times before partaking in this event because my team didn’t have to work as hard to try to remember where certain things were. Still, we had to be careful of using selective attention when looking for some of the items, and we had to use assimilation when getting around and figuring out where we were going. I’m so used to getting to places in a certain way, either by tram or metro, but I had to adjust and find quicker ways to get to those places by using different forms of transportation. By the end of the day, I felt like I had just finished a review of what we’ve been learning in class all semester. Prague Pursuit was a lot of fun and it really challenged us to see the city in a new way and to notice a few things that we might not have noticed before. I really enjoyed the trek across Prague, and was even more excited when it finally stopped raining!
On Thursday, my ELM class had its big Test Construction project due. When I first sat down to start this project, I felt very overwhelmed. I remember thinking to myself, “There’s no way I’m going to be able to do this.” Then I thought about the fact that I plan to be a teacher someday and figured I’d better get started now, otherwise the road ahead of me is going to be a tough one. It was a little difficult getting started because I was so worried that I would forget one of the basic rules to writing test questions and I would create an item that would be so confusing no one would be able to answer it correctly. I read back through the chapters discussing test construction and decided to just go for it. The questions ended up being a little easier than I had expected, but were still by no means simple. I never realized how much thought went into constructing tests and I now have a much greater appreciation for what my previous teachers have had to do. Even though I was a little weary of this project at first, I am very glad that we did it because I feel much more prepared for what I’m going to have to do in the future. This project has taught me several lessons that I hope to keep with me throughout my years of teaching. I truly feel that I benefited from doing this project, and now I have a better idea as to how much time and effort goes into constructing a well written test.
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