The Outhouse - The Greatest Comic Book Forum

[Cat-Scratch]

When I set up my grading scale for a math class I typically have it so 40% of the grade is busy work, and 50% is tests and quizes, and 10% is the final by itself.

That way a student could pass the class if they got 100 percent on the assessments but did zero work. But for most students it gives the work enough weight that it justifies assigning it and doesn't punish them too much for a messed up test or quiz.

I've always accepted assignments until the end of the term as well, it's not my job to teach them responsibility it's my job to teach them math.

I will not, however, provide them with an unlimited amount of copies of worksheets and the such, I'll usually give them one replacement, but after that they are on their own.

Good stuff to read. Great spread out and focus one where the kids can do the work or more importantly, prove they learned the course.

The teacher is only half the job, the other half is the student.

[Cat-Scratch]

Because really, what's more important? The learning or the busy work you give them so they'll shut up?

Learning, but most important, to show that they did learn.

Not all kids learn the same way or at the same rates. This is not to say some kids are slow but that they could be reacting to either a lack of interest in the course or a limited aptitude for it. The best thing for the former, are other students "infecting" the kid with interest in the course with a little encouragement from the teacher and yes, the parents.

In some sense, it's treating kids much the same way they get treated, or where, in college and university. Learn on your own, think on your own, with only some basic guidance and then prove it with exams and tests. The younger they are, the more guidance you give, but ultimately, let the kids go about learning in their comfort and but understand that they have to prove they have at the end of it with tests and exams. Plus yes, some bonus work assignments to pick up pace if they want, with tests and exams to give a second chance within a course.

[Cat-Scratch]

I think, if you examine this closely, you'll find that the kids who get zeroes are disproportionally low income, black or hispanic, and in the classrooms of underachieving teachers.

This of course points out how we still need affirmative action, and indeed need to increase it. And we need to put far more money into low-income classrooms, while mentoring those teachers who need it. And of course giving zeroes is simply punishing those children who are most in need of society's help, so we should stop evaluating children like that. Instead, we should adopt self-esteem positive terminology that emphasizes how much the child is valued, rather than old fashioned metrics such as how much the child has learned.

You cannot be the Achilles we all know and like.

[achilles]

You cannot be the Achilles we all know and like.

I have seen the light and come to understand how my earlier ways are simply a legacy of racist, militarist reactionary thought that threatens to hold back not only our country, but much more importantly, the world at large from the important progress we now stand ready to make, if we can only throw aside those earlier, unhelpful mindsets.

[MrBlack]

The school has a no-zero policy, for better or worse. If she didn't like it, she shouldn't be teaching there.

[holtom2000]

There's a reason they didn't want the teachers to talk about it-the admin looks absolutely asinine, and firing this teacher will only make it worse. I have no doubt that there are a lot of parents in favor of this policy, though.

This story is near and dear to me. I know a lot of Canadian teachers who think little of mamby pamby superintendents and their rubber stamping boards.
The reason they are wrong is in the real work you don't get an incomplete for not doing your work, you get fired

[Thunderstorm]

I think, if you examine this closely, you'll find that the kids who get zeroes are disproportionally low income, black or hispanic, and in the classrooms of underachieving teachers.

This of course points out how we still need affirmative action, and indeed need to increase it. And we need to put far more money into low-income classrooms, while mentoring those teachers who need it. And of course giving zeroes is simply punishing those children who are most in need of society's help, so we should stop evaluating children like that. Instead, we should adopt self-esteem positive terminology that emphasizes how much the child is valued, rather than old fashioned metrics such as how much the child has learned.

Comedy gold.

[The Shadow]

I think, if you examine this closely, you'll find that the kids who get zeroes are disproportionally low income, black or hispanic, and in the classrooms of underachieving teachers.

This of course points out how we still need affirmative action, and indeed need to increase it. And we need to put far more money into low-income classrooms, while mentoring those teachers who need it. And of course giving zeroes is simply punishing those children who are most in need of society's help, so we should stop evaluating children like that. Instead, we should adopt self-esteem positive terminology that emphasizes how much the child is valued, rather than old fashioned metrics such as how much the child has learned.

Do you want the doctor doing your kidney who got the 90% on the kidney transplant test or the one who has good self-esteem through positive terminology... but no one is REALLY sure what they know?

Hyperbole aside, what happens when these kids get into the real world and knowledge is expected to be quantified? When results matter and performance determines if you stay or get canned?

What you're talking about is a nice idea... but one so unrealistic that it can't ever realistically be implemented.

[The Shadow]

The teacher is only half the job, the other half is the student.

You know, you might want to add some parental involvement in there too. Maybe not equal thirds... but definitely something.

At the school I teach at the most successful students are the ones who have parents that get involved whether it's as simple as a call to let me know they will be late or more extreme like pulling them from an extracurricular event such as a tournament.

[Doc Jon]

Another way to look at is at the end of my pathway, students take the Adobe Certified Associate's exam. Has anyone here ever taken that? In my district, of which they're 8 high schools, since that exam has been instituted I would guess 3 years ago, not a single student has ever passed it. But I defy anyone to tell me my kids can't use Dreamweaver - because they can. But a numerical value on an incredibly difficult test that is definitely not geared towards high schoolers say they can't.

What about kids who are dyslexic or can't read or the ones who have learning disabilities that slip through the cracks? My second year of teaching I had a kid who couldn't read and he wasn't doing a single assignment and failing my class (and every other one). He was in high school and couldn't read. I didn't fail him either, but I gave him these videos to help him do his work with. His other teachers weren't so kind. I don't work there anymore, but I imagine he's probably dropped out. Is it his fault he didn't do the work because he didn't know how to read? Who knows. It's an incredibly difficult subject.

Ummmm... I would think that a kid who can't read in high school should NOT be passed under any circumstances, regardless of a willingness to learn. That simply seems stupid to me.

[avengingtitan]

Fucking Canada.

Although I am happy to learn you all have schools. I assumed you people lived in log cabins and passed down your job from parents to kids.

Seriously though that is a fucking stupid thing to punish a teacher for. Looks to like he did his job.

[syxxpakk]

Ummmm... I would think that a kid who can't read in high school should NOT be passed under any circumstances, regardless of a willingness to learn. That simply seems stupid to me.

If a kid knows who to use SUM functions in Excel, SmartArt in Word, or create queries in Access - i.e. the stuff he's supposed to know how to do when completing my class - why should he fail? If he/she can demonstrate that he's learned what he's/she's supposed to learn, then I'm not keen on the failing them.

[Doc Jon]

If a kid knows who to use SUM functions in Excel, SmartArt in Word, or create queries in Access - i.e. the stuff he's supposed to know how to do when completing my class - why should he fail? If he/she can demonstrate that he's learned what he's/she's supposed to learn, then I'm not keen on the failing them.

Ok, but you don't see the problem in a kid making it all the way to high school and not being able to read "See Spot run"?

I can see why he may pass your class, but that's a little like passing the buck isn't it? A kid even making it to high school who lacks the basic skills of a 6 year old is a failure of the educational system, plain and simple, and no amount of self-esteem will cover that.

[syxxpakk]

Ok, but you don't see the problem in a kid making it all the way to high school and not being able to read "See Spot run"?

I can see why he may pass your class, but that's a little like passing the buck isn't it? A kid even making it to high school who lacks the basic skills of a 6 year old is a failure of the educational system, plain and simple, and no amount of self-esteem will cover that.

That speaks to a much bigger problem facing education than not giving 0s for not doing busy work.

[dairydead]

Ok, but you don't see the problem in a kid making it all the way to high school and not being able to read "See Spot run"?

I can see why he may pass your class, but that's a little like passing the buck isn't it? A kid even making it to high school who lacks the basic skills of a 6 year old is a failure of the educational system, plain and simple, and no amount of self-esteem will cover that.

Detroit schools are like that. A friend of mine teaches college english classes at a Community College right outside of Detroit, and she says that most kids coming out of the city literally cannot read at a middle school level. They also know nothing about english, as ebonics is considered acceptable in certain schools. Its pretty weird.

On the flip side, she said the best students she gets, bar none, are the inner city kids that actually try.