“Hey Mr.V, why…?”

I have prepared a series of test-prep questions for students looking toward the final exam. The practice exams are taken at home using a computer. The following steps and considerations should be observed:

1. Sign in or register for a QuizStar account at http://quizstar.4teachers.org/indexs.jsp.

2. Search for “H1G” or “H2G” (without the quotation marks) depending if you are in the Fall (H1G) or Spring (H2G) term.

3. When you register for the course on QuizStar, you must wait for me to approve your registration. Approval is not instantaneous. Please be patient.

4. You will have at least three opportunities to take each of the available practice exams. After the final attempt, you’ll be shown the correct answers to each question in that exam. I recommend that you do not take the same exam three consecutive times. Take it once, work on a different exam, then return to that former exam at a later date.

5. Some practice tests have a few questions while others have many. The H1G or H2G practice Final Exam have over 100 questions each. The question totals are affected by the content depth required by the curriculum and course schedules.

6. Don’t forget, this opportunity is JUST PRACTICE. It does not replace proper studying and review of course materials in your notebook.

7. Take the practice exams with an eye toward the timer that is timing you. If the timer expires before you had a chance to complete the test, just keep working. The timer is there so you can adjust your pace.

Finally, share this opportunity with all your friends, whether they are Mr.V’s students or not. This opportunity is for everyone. The goal is for all students to benefit. Show them how to register on QuizStar or provide them with this web address so they can do it themselves.

“Hey Mr.V, why…?”

“Changes, they are a’coming.”

These changes are subtle is is not readily visible from the reader’s perspective, but changes are being made that will spill-over into the class. Fueling the change is the introduction of newer technology and incorporation of a new textbook (Beck, Roger B. World History: Patterns of Interaction. Orlando, FL.: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012. Print.).

Certain activities will be introduced to satisfy a purpose once reserved for the Index Card. To this I would include technology like the Promethean Board & iPads, which will expand our repertoire of credit generating activities. In addition, the dropping of the lowest test grade, which involved classes competing for highest exam averages, is similarly being changed. All classes will now have the lowest TEST/ EXAM grade dropped in the last marking period. This, of course, will not apply to quizzes. However, quizzes will no-longer produce two scores. Instead, the quiz will only produce the quiz score and not a corresponding lesson, assignment, or map score. These changes will begin with the most recent quizzes and T04.

Therefore, the benefit students once attributed to the Index Card will be derived from credit generating activities facilitated, at times, by technology. The competition between classes to achieve the highest average on exams has been eliminated. Every class now benefits from the dropping of the lowest TEST/ EXAM grade. Quizzes will now produce one grade- the actual quiz score.

While these changes have an immediate positive impact on all students, it doesn’t lower the bar of achievement. Students have been experiencing an increase in ‘POP’ quizzes over the past couple weeks. This increase is part of the changes described above and places a significantly greater emphasis on having a well-organized notebook. More so now than before, the notebook will influence a student’s performance during the term.

So, there you have it!

Mr.V giveth and he taketh away.