So, I’m curious. If you teach classes where you have to give grades, do you finish your semester or school year by giving a final exam or some other anxiety-inducing summative assessment?

Well, I’m totally guilty of this practice. It’s ingrained in the mindset of the language teachers at my workplace: Many of us schedule exams at the end of our courses, never questioning whether this is the best way to finish a course. And so, the last days and weeks of our classes are consumed by high-stakes exams. Perhaps this is a hallmark of higher education where “rigor” is valued so highly. In any case, after my students finally finish their last exam, I smile and wish them all the best for the end of the semester. They pack up their things and exit the classroom. The End.

On the one hand, I’m proud that my students perform well on their exams, and I know they’ve practiced skills they can use in their future careers. On the other hand, after spending weeks together building community and watching students blossom as they work through those frustrating learning moments to develop their language skills, it’s such a letdown to spend the last day of class in an exam. I walk away from the classroom with a lingering sense of unfinished business.

To be clear, my students have already done important metacognitive work in the week before the exams begin. They reflect on what they’ve learned during the whole course and how what they’ve learned will be useful beyond the classroom. They’ve also already evaluated the course. So, we wrap up important aspects of the class, but this work happens before students take their final exams.