In the handout we were given in class, the author takes a long, verbose scenic route to describe two truths to literature and how to consume it. We, as teachers, have to identify when to test students upon these two truths of preference and the type of text, or, to put it differently, how we read it. What's important about a text? The objective facts of the writing itself? The main character lives in Florida, his name is Paul, the antagonist is his older brother Erik (Tangerine by Edward Bloor). Or do we worry about the subjective analytical details? The "zombie" in the beginning of the book - what does it symbolize? What is the dynamic between Paul and his parents? What factors contribute to Paul's opinion of his older brother? Why is Paul afraid of him?
The point is that when reading a text, or at least a piece of fiction, and when assessing our students, we need to know what we're looking for. Do we want them to understand the text in an objective or subjective sense? Each way is valid for different reasons, and you'd be ill-advised to use a test meant for interpretation (essays, discussion) for objectivity, just as you'd do a disservice to the students by using a fact-based assessment to glean the students' understandings of subjective ideas.
The article (textbook?) offers some helpful tips to narrow down what you're looking for and how to employ techniques to weed those sorts of sought answers from your students. As teachers, we ought to understand the difference between black/white/yes/no questions and open-ended ones. It shouldn't take ten textbook pages for us to be able to make the distinction. What should be focused on is how to approach that distinction so that our students can understand it, and know when the expected answers are Boolean or wide-reaching.
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