Tuesday, September 14, 2004
The Rise and Fall of Diagnostic Friday
Traditionally, the first Friday of the semester is designated Diagnostic Friday. This is just one of many such special days that I plan for myself during the year along side such events as "Dry Ice Day", "Penny Lab Day", and "Don't Shoot Yourself In the Head...They're Only Children!" Day. By the end of the first week, I am generally pretty drained and the diagnostic fulfills the dual purpose of filling time and telling me what my students know. Between the low stress lesson and the fact that diagnostic Friday is generally payday, this usually leaves the first weekend relatively stress-free.
Oh, if only things were so easy this year.
This year, I decided to compile a new diagnostic based on content that was on grade level. Meaning that it was designed to be taken by 9th graders. Oh how naive I was to think it would work. The reason? My students may be in 9th grade...but they are not at a 9th grade level when it comes to science knowlege or general maturity. Consequently, I spent most of Friday telling students to be quiet and try their best , and seeing those requests ignored by students who realized that the diagnostic wouldn't hurt their grade. And how did they realize that? I TOLD THEM! Ah, stupid, stupid Invisible Ben. When will you learn never to tell students things like that?
So Diagnostic Friday ended up leaving a bad taste in my mouth. 5 hours of students cussing, talking loudly, and disrespecting you can do that.
Yesterday therefore started a new tradition: Rediagnostic Monday. I used a diagnostic from last year, designed for a 5th grade level. I haven't run the stats yet, but it looks like 60% proficiency is about average.
Looks like I'll have a lot of work to do before the year is up.
Traditionally, the first Friday of the semester is designated Diagnostic Friday. This is just one of many such special days that I plan for myself during the year along side such events as "Dry Ice Day", "Penny Lab Day", and "Don't Shoot Yourself In the Head...They're Only Children!" Day. By the end of the first week, I am generally pretty drained and the diagnostic fulfills the dual purpose of filling time and telling me what my students know. Between the low stress lesson and the fact that diagnostic Friday is generally payday, this usually leaves the first weekend relatively stress-free.
Oh, if only things were so easy this year.
This year, I decided to compile a new diagnostic based on content that was on grade level. Meaning that it was designed to be taken by 9th graders. Oh how naive I was to think it would work. The reason? My students may be in 9th grade...but they are not at a 9th grade level when it comes to science knowlege or general maturity. Consequently, I spent most of Friday telling students to be quiet and try their best , and seeing those requests ignored by students who realized that the diagnostic wouldn't hurt their grade. And how did they realize that? I TOLD THEM! Ah, stupid, stupid Invisible Ben. When will you learn never to tell students things like that?
So Diagnostic Friday ended up leaving a bad taste in my mouth. 5 hours of students cussing, talking loudly, and disrespecting you can do that.
Yesterday therefore started a new tradition: Rediagnostic Monday. I used a diagnostic from last year, designed for a 5th grade level. I haven't run the stats yet, but it looks like 60% proficiency is about average.
Looks like I'll have a lot of work to do before the year is up.
