Thursday, 23 February 2012

Assignment 6, Module 3: Case 2

Please leave any comments to this response attached to this post.

Thanks!
Jessica Balsom

3 comments:

  1. Thank you for sharing from your own experience of test anxiety. I know that, as a teacher, I can easily brush aside as superfluous such seemingly simple accommodations as writing an exam in a separate room. I do this because I have no personal experience of test anxiety, and need to take the effort to put myself in the student's shoes, and show some empathy. You did a wonderful job of helping me understand how a room change could increase anxiety and set a student up for failure. Your post is a reminder for me to always think outside my own experience and imagine what academic life is like through the eyes of the student.

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  2. Hi Jessica,

    How is the weather up North? It’s about 17 and humid here in Macau, but that is hot enough for me! Thank you for making this case relevant to your own personal experience about growing up with test anxiety. I used to get very nervous for math tests when I was in elementary and secondary school because it was the subject I had the least amount of confidence in, but nothing that was extreme. However, when reading this case, I did not consider the relevance of test anxiety to Tracy’s situation. It makes complete sense that this could also be a major concern for Tracy if she is made to take the test along with her peers in the gymnasium. I agree that Tracy has been working hard to maintain her grades and that it would be unfair for the school to suddenly take away her accommodations without proper justification.

    I am just curious, as you entered into university and grew older, did your test anxiety lesson at all? If so, was it because you learned successful coping skills or did that come with maturity?

    Thanks again for sharing your thoughts. I hope you enjoy the remainder of your TAB experience.

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  3. Hello Jessica,

    I really enjoyed reading your thoughts and views on this case! I enjoyed that you shared your own personal test anxiety experience. I understand the difficulties writing an exam in a gymnasium would bring as I am a person who gets easily distracted myself when writing tests. Additionally, I am a physical education major so I know how noise carries in a gymnasium and fear for Tracey when I think of a student with ADD/ADHD having to write a test in this environment. I agree that putting Tracey in a gymnasium after a year of allowing her to write tests in a resource room would only be setting Tracey up for failure. Tracey has worked hard all year to keep her marks up, and it is the school administration, and teachers job to ensure the best for their students. I feel as though the school needs to be accountable for the fact they set accommodations for Tracey for a reason, and now they must stand beside this decision and find a alternate place for Tracey to write her exam. Did you find that as you got older the test anxiety got better? Or did you learn to cope better? I hope your TAB experience is going well. Enjoy your time left!

    Gina

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