After looking over first quarter grades I have come to a sad conclusion.
The purpose of the blog posts was to give you an opportunity to communicate with each other, and to see math applied in the real world in more fun and interseting circumstances. Due to factors (some of which I know, and others I do not understand), many of you failed to complete the blog posts.
Along those lines, because regular homework was not graded, many of you failed to do the homework assignments because they were not counted towards your grade. This is particularly true in one class. This truly upsets me. I walked into this school year very excited to try to not grade homework. I still firmly believe that grades should measure what a student has mastered, not what they have tried. And we got off to a good start. But as the year went on it got slightly worse, and to the point we are at now. Therefore I am now forced into the decision of grading homework as you would normally expect. Some students are lost because they fail to do the homework. Other students and classes are thriving because people are doing the homework and trying hard in class.
I know there are things I could have done better to make the blog better, and I know there were things I could have done to get you to do the homework more. But I still believe that not grading homework is the correct thing, and I am not giving up on it forever. I am going to regroup, rethink my strategy and try again.
This is the lesson I want you to take away from this. Is that you should always take risks in your education and life. Things that make you uncomfortable, things that other people would not do, and things that will help you grow. Do not be afraid of failure, because that is what will make you a stronger person. And if you fail, get up and try again (but make sure you make some adjustments).
I hope you respect what I was trying to accomplish, and the fact that I was willing to try something different. I hope you appreciate the fact that it was all designed in your best interest (lord knows it made more work for me).
I would ask you to either post or email me comment on your thoughts on this experiment with the blog posts, and the non-grading of homework. I am looking for constructive criticism. You were my guinea pigs, and I can only learn from your feedback.
Lastly I want to thank the students who continued to do the homework and the blog posts. You did a GREAT job. You are the reason that I still have faith that I can make this system work. I truly thank you.
Thank you,
Mr. Frank
I think it's kinda lame how the people who didn't post had numerous chances to post and most likely tried to use "I forgot" or "I have no internet at home" as an excuse. Doing this post is the same as coming to class or logging onto Facebook/Twitter. It's unbelievable how they couldn't do these posts. If you were being lazy, admit it and quit doing it. I found these posts to be fun, and the fact that others are not getting the enjoyment of doing this because people were being lazy and not doing these posts is just..... unbelievable.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your input Avery. It is appreciated and I will remember it in moving forward.
ReplyDeleteI know this is sad for you but i personally love the idea that homework counts now, it gives us a chance to get practice while getting a grade for it, and when homework wasn't graded it made us overlook it because we have other priorities. As for the blog posts, Personally I thought they were completely irrelevant and they didn't help us in class at all, so I think that's why people didn't do them. They were kind of hard at times because they required critical thinking that some of us just weren't willing to give. I think its a great idea for those really interested in math and its applications for life ect. But for a class grade, I don't think it works all that well. Sorry!!
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ReplyDeleteSorry I made a typo I wanted to fix.
ReplyDeleteI still do not agree that effort should have any input into a students grade. A grade should serve to let a student know what they understand, now what they tried.
I do agree that it did require some critical thinking, and that is part of what I was looking to accomplish.
And lastly I do agree that it worked well for people who enjoy math and science already. I guess I was hoping to get some people more interested in math and science.
I truly appreciate the feedback!
hey coach frank i personaly think the bolg post is a good idea. but for people like me who forget things alot it hurts our grade. i think it would be more helpfull if u were to remind us at least twice a week or jus make one big page stating to do the post. me personalydidnt do most of them beacuse i forgot but ill try alot harder to do them. i even set a reminder in my fone to do it on thursday nights.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the input Kris. I do understand that it can be hard to remember with all the stuff you have going on, but I also think people should be expected to remember something once a week. The thing on your cell phone is a good idea, but you do not need it anymore right now since the blog posts will not be happening.
ReplyDeleteThanks!
Thanks!
I thought it was a great idea. But i also came late so i'm not sure i can really judge the idea. But i thought it was a good one, I mean when you DO homework that doesn't mean you UNDERSTAND it. The blog post was a chance to give people who put effort in class to actually get credit for paying attention. unlike homework where anyone could just write anything and possibly get the same credit as someone who took the time to see it thorugh and knew what he was doing.- Tolabi
ReplyDeleteI actually liked blog posts !
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