Hi Everyone:

I am thinking about purchasing the Evaluations CD this year for my Dialectic level student. I am wondering what other people's experience is with them. This will be our second year at the Dialectic level. There were some weeks where I definitely felt I had a good handle on how much of the material he had mastered and others where I was busy with my little ones or life in general where I felt like I was just throwing the reading at him and hoping for the best. This was especially true on the occasions when time for the history lecture got squeezed out of our week. I am also thinking it would give my hubby some peace of mind having something concrete to hold and evaluate. ( I know Pop Quiz would be great for this too.) He's more of a concrete literal kind of guy and likes seeing a finished work product.

On the other hand, I wonder if Evaluations would just be busy work and overkill. It doesn't seem to fit with the idea of discussion and learning through the whole dialectic / rhetoric process. I just know in spite of my best planning that some weeks or periods of time get crazy and that's when I feel the most like I need some objective gauge which I can hand to my student and not have to participate in. (Other than grading it.)

Thanks for your input!
Heather

Heather,

Based on your situation, I think you would find the Evaluations to be very helpful. They were designed to be used as needed (not every week) for the exact reasons you mention. If you feel like you need an objective way to make sure your child is "getting it", this will do the trick. On weeks where you know they're doing well and you have time for discussion, just skip the eval. that week. Marcia does not intend for anyone to do eval. every week-it would be way too much! Also, I think you'll be pleased with the variety and format for the evaluations. We don't use them very often, but I think they are well written and a great tool for those weeks when you need a little something extra. The end of the unit exams are excellent too.

Hope this helps,
Andrea

I probably only use the Evaluations in 25% of the weeks. I look at them and pick types tests that I think he should be able to handle.

I do always use the unit tests.

I just found this sections but I thought I'd give you one more option. Sometimes I let me son do the evaluation "open book". I might do this at a time where our discussion has been little or non existent for that week. Or maybe I find that he would benefit from having a review instead of a total recall. I enjoy having the tool of the evaluations to use one way or another.
Frances