Strategies for Teaching Multiple Choice

My course pre-test is a full AP MC test from a previous year This exposes them to the type of questions they will get and the rigor of the time restraints. We do not go over it or discuss it. I give them the exact test as their “final exam” at the end of the semester. Students who take the AP exam are exempt from this test.

I wait and introduce MC after our argument unit Since we teach on a block schedule, we break up the course into 6 week units Argument, Analysis, Synthesis/Review for Exam During the argument unit, we study various pieces to learn the structure of argument while they learn to write their own. This is where I introduce them to most of the rhetorical terminology that they need to survive the MC part of the exam.

Once we get through the argument unit, I introduce them to multiple choice and the common stems Main idea Rhetorical terms Meaning and purpose Structure and Organization Rhetorical Modes We use the packet as a class set, and I also post to my blog: MC Stems Packet

I spend about a week on the following preliminary activities: I give them the MC question stems for FDRs inaugural address as open-ended questions without answer choices. Open Ended FDR Stem Questions I get these from the Applied Practice American Speeches bookOpen Ended FDR Stem Questions Students pair up to identify what type of stem the question reflects and then attempt to answer the questions (this also gets them thinking about rhetorical analysis). They use these notes to answer the actual MC questions that go with the passage; we grade and discuss as a whole group.

Use the MLK I Have a Dream speech We have already studied this speech and its rhetorical structure during our argument unit, so use a text that they are already very familiar with. Break them into groups. Each group must come up with one MC question for each of the stem types, so 5 questions each. They can use their rhetorical handbook of terms to help them come up with questions and answer choices. Each group creates a Kahoot account and enters their questions and answers into Kahoot We then play each Kahoot game and the groups become teams. They compete for the top spot on the leader board. As we play each game, we discuss accuracy and stem types for the questions and answer choices. This is a great learning experience. Top team on each leader board gets a prize; this allows for all teams to have a chance to “win” since we play several rounds.

MC Bonus opportunity I offer multiple opportunities for grade recovery; this is one of them Each student must type and submit to Blackboard, so I can run it through our plagiarism detection I award points for accuracy and proper stem identification Bonus - Write your own MC questions The class can “test out” the questions using Plickers as part of the accuracy check and also for general MC review. What is Plickers?

Preparing to take MC practice quizzes each week: After a couple of weeks of studying stems and practicing with various passages, we spend about 3 weeks doing the following: Students are given a passage on Mondays to analyze at home as practice for the MC each Friday for three weeks in a row. Passage Analysis Weekly AssignmentPassage Analysis Weekly Assignment They must complete this process for a different passage each week and turn it in after they complete the MC questions in class each Friday. They may use their annotations to answer the MC questions. I give them 1 minute per question (anywhere from minutes depending on the passage) After they submit their answers to the clickers (or you can use Zip Grade), we go over the questions using the bar graph data from each question. I use a curved scoring scale MC Grading ScaleMC Grading Scale I count all this as one summative grade each week so that they give me their full effort. The lowest they can get if they do everything they are supposed to is an 87 as a summative grade.

After 4 weeks of the previous activities, they are ready to begin weekly MC assessments on cold passages for the remainder of the course We practice a couple MC passages together as a class “cold” and under a time constraint before I begin counting them for a grade. Each week until the end of the semester (usually for about 8 weeks), they complete a MC passage and it is timed. I give them 1 minute per question, plus one extra minute. We usually do this on Fridays, and we don’t focus on anything else but MC. I use the curved grading scale, but adjust it so that they must take it seriously. If they get at least ½ correct it’s a 75, but anything less than that is a 5 point deduction for each missed question. I count this as a formative quiz grade each week. I do give them bonus opportunities to earn the chance to drop a couple grades or add bonus points to them. To try to liven things up on Fridays, sometimes their bonus opportunities are to create funny memes for their rhetorical or vocabulary terms and present them or they can illustrate or perform a rhetorical term for the class. Also, we do impromptu 2 minute arguments on fun topics just to keep the argument momentum going.

At the end of the semester, they take the MC pre-test as their final test on final exam day. Since the Milestone test counts as their final exam, this only counts as a test grade. Any students who sit for the AP Lang exam get to opt out of taking this final test, but they can choose to take it if they want to see how much they have improved from their first score. Some kids take it anyway as a last effort to get their grade up to an A or a B. This is the conversion chart I use to come up with their score for the gradebook: Multiple Choice Score Converstion ChartMultiple Choice Score Converstion Chart