Three Part Test - Summer School

I'm a high school math teacher and I am teaching Geometry Recovery right now in Summer School. We are going quickly through the units and are far ahead of schedule. Out of 52 students across two periods, there is 1 D and 3 Cs. I am a credentialed secondary mathematics teacher and I take on the Summer School position because it's fun to blow through topics in 4.5 weeks.

Students are making it up to replace their D or F grade that was previously earned. We are doing many different types of instruction in the classroom from what would normally be done during the year. I give very short lectures and very little definition copying. We do practice on white boards, practice in workbooks, and watch videos from Khan Academy to relax our minds. During break times, I show them pictures from the Funny Picture Thread....

The periods for Summer are 2 hours and 40 minutes. There are two periods a day. I have 20 students who are in both periods and a few who are just in first or second. The students who are in both periods are with us for 5 hours and 20 minutes a day!!

We are taking a test today in Period 1, which is the first Semester of Geometry. It's on triangle congruence and properties of triangles. I explained to them before the test that it would be a '3 Part Test'. They looked at me scared and asked what each part was. I asked them if I had ever steered them wrong or done anything unfair to them. They said no. I wrote the Test Schedule on the board:
Part 1) 09:45-10:05
Part 2) 10:05-10:15
Part 3) 10:15-10:40.
They were freaked out. I assured them they would be ok as I passed out the 4 page test. They looked at me like they were going to cry. They asked, "Is this Part 1?"

They worked on the test as fast as they could. They only had 20 minutes to complete the 4 page test. No one finished in 20 minutes. I collected the tests and told them the faster I can collect it, the better off they would be. I sped up and down the rows as I grabbed tests in order.

I told them this was Part 2. I said "It's your time; do with it as you please." A few of them immediately started talking to each other. I heard vocabulary spitting out of their mouths that made it sound like an Honors Geometry classroom. They were all furiously writing down things on scratch paper that they knew would be thrown away before Part 3.

A few of them knew the original test would be handed out as Part 3. They were communicating about mathematics the way they would if they were engineers working on a deadline. I get experiences like this a few times a year. This was the first 3-Parter they have taken in the 3 weeks we have been together.



Then I got a question from one of them during Part 2:
"What chapter are we on?"


It's 10:29. They were working diligently on their test and no one has turned it in yet. Only 11 more minutes!