Wednesday, January 18, 2006
A New Low
The end of the marking period is here. Tomorrow, I give my students midterms in both my physical science and chemistry classes. The midterm is going to be open note, open book, and groups. It consists of 50 multiple choice questions and will count for two test grades.
The reason behind these accomodations? The overarching idea is that it will provide students with one last shot to earn a strong grade, pushing grades that are on the borderline between D and F towards passing.
And why is this so important?
Consider the following disheartening statistic: As of right now, my penultimate class of the day does not have a single passing student. 37 students in my gradebook. All F's. All failures.
They chose not to do the extra credit project. They chose not to do their homework or classwork. And now they are all failing.
Every single one. Failing.
And they take comfort in their failures. After all if every student in a class is failing, the true failure lies not with the pupil, but with the teacher.
Or so they'll tell their families. And so I'll hear again and again.
Failure upon failure. 20+ missed assignments for most students. And they blame me for not doing their work. Or not studying. Or treating the class like a joke.
But hopefully that changes after tomorrow...at least a little bit. Perhaps I can tip the balance with this midterm.
I sure hope so.
I'm tired of failures.
The end of the marking period is here. Tomorrow, I give my students midterms in both my physical science and chemistry classes. The midterm is going to be open note, open book, and groups. It consists of 50 multiple choice questions and will count for two test grades.
The reason behind these accomodations? The overarching idea is that it will provide students with one last shot to earn a strong grade, pushing grades that are on the borderline between D and F towards passing.
And why is this so important?
Consider the following disheartening statistic: As of right now, my penultimate class of the day does not have a single passing student. 37 students in my gradebook. All F's. All failures.
They chose not to do the extra credit project. They chose not to do their homework or classwork. And now they are all failing.
Every single one. Failing.
And they take comfort in their failures. After all if every student in a class is failing, the true failure lies not with the pupil, but with the teacher.
Or so they'll tell their families. And so I'll hear again and again.
Failure upon failure. 20+ missed assignments for most students. And they blame me for not doing their work. Or not studying. Or treating the class like a joke.
But hopefully that changes after tomorrow...at least a little bit. Perhaps I can tip the balance with this midterm.
I sure hope so.
I'm tired of failures.
