As an English teacher there are numerous ways to evaluate what a student knows about a certain text. There is not one right way to assess a student on what he/she got out of the text. Literature allows us to assess our students in different ways while still achieving our goal of allowing the students to really get something out of what they read. Some students feel comfortable writing essays, and this is a great way to get the students to analyze literature and think critically about what they read. Not all students learn well this way. A lot of students would rather take factual tests to show what they know.
It all falls back on how the instructor values literature. When we figure out what we value as instructors it is important to ask ourselves what it means to us to “learn literature.” What goals do we set for our students to justify if they have learned about the text? We need our students to think broadly about what they have learned. When we give them questions, there should be more than one way to answer the question and their answers should also be original. Solid or definite answers do not always work when students are learning literature.
In our age rubrics and criteria should be handed out to students as a basis for what they should gain from literature. Our rubrics should outline our goals along with what the students should get out of the text. As instructors, our feedback is necessary for the students. Our feedback should guide the students to the goals that we set out. We must guide them carefully and take certain steps in order for them to be able to learn literature. Once our assessment is complete, we must allow the students to reflect on what they learned throughout the literature lesson. They should conjure up a solid understanding of the text and at the same time understand how they got there.
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