Oh goodness. This was quite an interesting week. My co-op was out taking care of his 2-year-old on Thursday, so I was in charge of all 5 classes for the first time. It wasn't too tricky, because I was passing back a quiz and doing a review game with them. I had introduced myself to 2 more classes on Monday, so it was my first time with the last two on Thursday. Things had been going well with my 3 classes throughout the week, but Thursday I wanted to scream. Students had questions about the quiz, and I knew when I was grading them that some of the questions weren't worded well. My co-op took the quiz from another teacher's materials, and it was a T/F quiz with 20 questions worth 3 points each (which seems high to me, but oh-well). So we decided to give everyone 3 extra points because one question was really vague, and a few more were very confusing. One kid in the last class of the day (after I'd been dealing with arguments with 8th graders all day) kept arguing with me about the answers. He thought he should have gotten credit for more questions and that the answers my co-op and I had were wrong and he was right. I decided to take a question from another student, and I was talking with the other student when I hear student A tell his friend, "I could argue this all day long." At that point I looked at the class and said, "Listen. I gave everyone in here 3 free points. You all go the benefit of the doubt, whether you got #10 wrong or not. If you want to argue and tell me that I was wrong, I will take the three points back for the whole class." That got them quiet pretty fast.
In retrospect, maybe that wasn't a good thing to say, but I wanted to remind them that we helped them out a little. I didn't make the test, but I still got a 60/60 when I made the key (which I checked against the actual key that my co-op had). I reminded them that close reading was key and that they couldn't count on class discussions to make up for not doing their homework.
The best part of the day was seeing the sub (an older man, who I believe was a retired computer isntructor) sitting in the back of the room reading a book.
Overall, it wasn't too bad of a week. Taking over more classes was interesting, and having the whole day on Thursday to be in charge is good preparation for this upcoming week when I take over all the classes.
I do have one question for all of you: Have you had any conflicts or disagreements with your co-ops about grading? My co-op gave the kids a bunch of assignments to complete, and I am grading the newest one by myself. It's a notebook project, and in the first part of the assignment they had to include 10 facts about Mark Twain that they learned in class and 5 facts that they discovered on their own. I don't mind doing the grading, but he is taking off 10 points (the assignment is worth 89) if they didn't label the 5 facts about Mark Twain they found themselves. The grading sheet and project description don't say anything about needing to label them, and my co-op said that if students fight it, they can get 5 of those 10 points back, but they need to see me next week and initiate a meeting. Does this seem unfair or off to anyone else for a bunch of 8th grade students?
Anyway, that's basically it for now. I am excited to start my poetry unit on Monday (or Tuesday or Wednesday... who knows after an unplanned early dismissal yesterday screwed up the schedule). More updates after that.
It's almost the end
16 years ago
And on to the topic of grading...
ReplyDeleteTo field your first experience--grading a test your co-op wrote and having students argue their answers--I think you made a very fair and equitable choice. I was also pleased to hear that you had taken the test yourself. Not many teachers (shockingly) do this. When I encountered disputes with my students regarding a test question or an argument centering around the "vagueness" or "bias" I had when I wrote a particular question, I always allowed my students to justify their answer *IN WRITING* for reconsideration. If their justification demonstrated clear knowledge of the text/question, etc. then I generally awarded them an extra point or two. In this way, I provided a system where dissatisfied students could earn the opportunity to argue their answer, and generally, this system weeded out the students who simply wanted to complain or had no "better" answer in mind. This immediately halts the negative "ganging up" that can sometimes happen or the need on the teacher's behalf to stand in front of the class and "justify" her own point of view. Which, as you now know, can dissolve into chaos quickly.
About the "points off for not properly labeling or formatting" a homework assignment. *sigh* I think, personally this sends the wrong message to the students. But, at the same time, it becomes quite tiresome as a grader to have to "hunt and peck" for all of the assigned information. I think this might have simply been avoided if the teacher created a hand-out with all of the labels clearly typed in ahead of time. You'll need to consider for yourself, whether or not "structure" and obeying "rules" is important to you or not in written assignments. If a student leaves their name off of the paper, or doesn't use the heading that you want them to, etc. Are you going to mark them down? Does it bother you that much? Should it bother you that much?
Of course, I think we can all agree that students need (and oftentimes thrive) in a structured classroom...but is it possible to go too far?
Megan- I don't really feel like he went behind my back. The email was directed to him and I feel like that was honestly the best way to handle it. I wasn't annoyed with him at all, just with the situation a little bit. He is the one the parents know and communicate with and to tell you the truth I would have probably told the mother the same thing. I really enjoy working with him and I respect his judgement on things like that.
ReplyDeleteOK. I wasn't sure and I wasn't implying that he was a bad guy or anything like that. I just didn't know how you felt about it and maybe I read it wrong, but I think I took it like it was a really secretive exchange... though maybe my interpretation of this is based on the ridiculousness of email exchanges between my students' parents and the teachers on my team.
ReplyDeleteHello... to answer your question: yes, I disagree with my co-op on about every topic under the sun. But we just agree to disagree and that makes us both happy. She gives very vague discriptions and doesn't expect a lot of students whereas I like rubrics and page long directions and I hold students at a high standard because I scaffold their learning. When it comes to grading, she likes large projects and I like to have students turn in something every class, even if it's only for 10 points. She also has a strict policy about writing a comment on every paper. I'm all for commenting and giving grades but I have a 5 word limit on each 10 point assignment. I love teaching - but I have a life. Sorry if that makes me a bad person.
ReplyDeleteMegan,
ReplyDeleteGrading, grading, grading...ugh! What a headache. I find that my co op likes to grade almost everything from a rubric...which is something I don't use for everything in the least. I feel myself that rubrics either grade the kids way too hard (I mean, a paper that I thought was pretty good only came to a D on the rubric because of some technicalities!) or far too easy. I know it's more work on me, but I like to grade assignments individually based on each student. Mind you, I still mkae sure my students know what I expect so their not taking a shot in the dark.
As for disagreements with your co op, all I can say is it's just 4 more weeks...then you can grade anyway you feel comfortable!
I know... the rubric... One girl did above-and-beyond work and she got a B on an assignment. People who did far less got 100%. It sucks.
ReplyDelete