Pop Quiz is Fun!

Yesterday during science, Sr. N. gave the students a pop quiz based on Monday's lesson. She gave out note papers and read the questions out loud. For each question, she substituted the key words with 'blank' and students were supposed to write the correct answer. For example, 'Living organisms 'BLANK' and develop.' The correct answer should be 'grow.'

Before she gave the correct answers at the end of the quiz, she asked students words that would define how well they did in the pop quiz.

Number of correct answers: 8-10 = 'I am smart, all praise be to Allah SWT.'
Number of correct answers: 5-6 = 'I am acceptable, all praise be to Allah SWT.'
Number of correct answers: <4 = 'I have tried, boo-hoo, boo-hoo, boo-hoo.'

Then she told them she expected them to be honest about their own assessment and trusted them to be so. As she was giving out the answers, the excitement level increased as students marked their own answers. 3 students had perfect score while most others got most of the answers correct.

I think it is important to remind students to review their lessons without nagging at them, because they will not take ownership of their studies. Pop quizzes can be used as an effective way to reinforce important concepts. It also helps the teacher to know which students need clarification on a topic or just need reminders to review lessons at home.