With this Teaching Tidbit, I move into my second year of blogging about teaching ideas. In this post, I explain why I have changed my practice of being willing to review practice answers to my past exam questions of any student who asks to, instead, structuring frequent opportunities for practice and feedback for all my students.
For many years, I let my students know that I was willing to review as many practice exam answers as any student was willing to write and submit to me. I did require them to meet with me to hear my thoughts as I reviewed their answer, something I learned from Professor Mark Wojcik of the University of Illinois Chicago, because I found that they understood my comments better when they could ask questions and I could explain my comments. Nevertheless, I have discontinued my practice of reviewing individual student-initiated practice exams.
In my recent post on discontinuing grade bumps, I explained that I believed that my practice of giving grade bumps was rewarding privilege or, at least, self confidence. In other words, the students who were most significantly contributing to class discussions were students who were comfortable being wrong in front of their peers.
I decided to discontinue reviewing student-initiated practice exams when I realized that the same privilege preferencing may be going on in terms of which students feel comfortable asking me to review their practice exams.
Of course, because I believe frequent practice and feedback is the most critical prerequisite to learning the analytical skills I teach, I am not willing to abandon practice exams. Consequently, I have two new practices. First, I integrate bar exam-style multiple choice questions in every class session I teach. I pass out cards that have A, B, C, and D on them, and I ask my students to hold up an answer to each question, sometimes as a group and sometimes as individuals, to each question. Second, and, at the end of each unit (e.g., formation, contract defenses, parol evidence rule), I require students, as part of their class preparation, to answer in writing former exam questions that test issues in the doctrinal area. I devote class time to reviewing the correct analysis of the problem, sometimes by providing a model answer, sometimes by having students review a peer’s answer using a rubric or model answer, and, occasionally, by structuring an oral argument. In many instances, I have my students turn in their answers, but I do not do a full review. Finally, before my midterms and finals, I host optional review sessions in which I review additional past exam questions. As a result of these practices, in my contracts class for example, my students have a chance to answer roughly 30 exam-like multiple-choice questions and to complete and see model answers for roughly 15 former essay exam questions.
I do still meet with any student who would like me to review their midterms and coach them on performing better in my class. As readers of my teaching tidbit on supporting students who are disappointed by their midterm grades know, however, in preparation for my meeting with them, each student must read the 3-5 highest scoring answers to the midterm, review their own individual scoresheet and my comments on it, review my handout on common student errors, and come to the meeting with a plan to improve their grade in my class.
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