Wait the quarter ended already? I'm not ready.
I spent all week telling students that the quarter ended on Friday and if they want to change their grade they had to turn in work on Friday. Still at least three students asked if they could turn in work today.
I did have a big pile of work to review on Friday. Much of it was not good enough to make much of an impact on their grades. I try to use grades as a measure of student knowledge. Instead of making 25 packets of missing work, most of which will be thrown out, lost, or scribbled on and then deal with students demanding to know why their grade hasn't gone up because they "did the work", I make a review test of sorts. I offered it on Wednesday for students to take it home and prove that they know and understand the concepts I taught. Every single question included a second question asking how did you solve this question. Then I gave everyone the opportunity to work on it in class on Friday.
This test could take anyone from an F to an A depending on the quality of the work. I encouraged students to Google how to solve problems, I made videos and posted them on Youtube, Google Classroom, and a Google Web site. Still for the most part students did not finish the test and many of the problems answered were riddled with mistakes.
I spent 8 weeks on a topic that is scheduled to take 7 days in my grade level book. I spent weeks starting at 5th grade level attempting to build up background knowledge of multiplication and division, attempting to build fluency. I spent hours organizing and reorganizing my classroom to facilitate learning. I bought vertical whiteboards to allow students to work in temporary space and then share easily with the class. I gave students time everyday to work, independently and/or in groups. I gave homework everyday, mostly practicing basic skills. I spent time with various formative evaluations and used the data to help students. (observations, exit slips, practice problems that I took home and wrote individual notes for every student who turned in their work). I talked at least two students into coming to after school tutoring twice a week, once with me, once with the 8th grade math teacher. I spent so much time kneeling with small groups, and individuals to work together on a problem that I bruised my knees.
Did any grades change? A few, but mostly because I gave the benefit of the doubt.
I love teaching middle school.
I did have a big pile of work to review on Friday. Much of it was not good enough to make much of an impact on their grades. I try to use grades as a measure of student knowledge. Instead of making 25 packets of missing work, most of which will be thrown out, lost, or scribbled on and then deal with students demanding to know why their grade hasn't gone up because they "did the work", I make a review test of sorts. I offered it on Wednesday for students to take it home and prove that they know and understand the concepts I taught. Every single question included a second question asking how did you solve this question. Then I gave everyone the opportunity to work on it in class on Friday.
This test could take anyone from an F to an A depending on the quality of the work. I encouraged students to Google how to solve problems, I made videos and posted them on Youtube, Google Classroom, and a Google Web site. Still for the most part students did not finish the test and many of the problems answered were riddled with mistakes.
I spent 8 weeks on a topic that is scheduled to take 7 days in my grade level book. I spent weeks starting at 5th grade level attempting to build up background knowledge of multiplication and division, attempting to build fluency. I spent hours organizing and reorganizing my classroom to facilitate learning. I bought vertical whiteboards to allow students to work in temporary space and then share easily with the class. I gave students time everyday to work, independently and/or in groups. I gave homework everyday, mostly practicing basic skills. I spent time with various formative evaluations and used the data to help students. (observations, exit slips, practice problems that I took home and wrote individual notes for every student who turned in their work). I talked at least two students into coming to after school tutoring twice a week, once with me, once with the 8th grade math teacher. I spent so much time kneeling with small groups, and individuals to work together on a problem that I bruised my knees.
Did any grades change? A few, but mostly because I gave the benefit of the doubt.
I love teaching middle school.
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