Art Stuff So My Teacher Doesnt Get Mad at Me

اردیبهشت ۱۰, ۱۴۰۱ ارسال یک نظر

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Most of my ix-calendar week grading periods ended the same way: Me and one or 2 students, sitting in my serenity, empty classroom together, with me sitting at the computer, the students nearby in desks, methodically working through piles of make-up assignments. They would exist focused, more than focused than I'd seen them in months, and the speed with which they got through the piles was stunning.

As they finished each consignment I took it, checked it for accuracy, then entered their scores—taking 50 percentage off for beingness late—into my grading program. With every entry, I'd watch as their class class went up and up: from a 37 percent to a 41, so to 45, then to 51, and somewhen to something in the 60s or even depression 70s, a number that constituted passing, at which point the process would end and nosotros'd part means, total of resolve that next marking period would be different.

And the whole time I thought to myself, This is pointless. They aren't learning anything at all. But I wasn't sure what else to exercise.

For as long every bit teachers accept assigned tasks in substitution for grades, late work has been a problem. What do we do when a student turns in work tardily? Do we give some kind of issue or accept assignments at whatsoever time with no penalisation? Do we set up some kind of arrangement that keeps students motivated while still holding them accountable? Is there a way to manage all of this without driving ourselves crazy?

To observe answers, I went to Twitter and asked teachers to share what works for them. What follows is a summary of their responses. I wish I could give private credit to each person who offered ideas, but that would take style too long, and I really want you to get these suggestions now! If y'all've been unsatisfied with your ain arroyo to late work, y'all should discover some fresh ideas here.

Start, a Few Questions Almost Your Grades

Before we go into the means teachers manage belatedly work, permit'southward support a bit and consider whether your overall program of assignments and grading is in a healthy identify. Here are some questions to remember well-nigh:

What do your grades correspond? How much of your grades are truly based on academic growth, and how much are based by and large on compliance? If they lean more toward compliance, and so what you lot're doing when you try to manage late work is basically a lot of administrative paper pushing, rather than pedagogy your content. Although it'southward important for kids to acquire how to manage deadlines, do you really want an A in your course to primarily reflect the ability to follow instructions? If your grades are also compliance-based, consider how yous might shift things so they more accurately represent learning. (For a deeper give-and-take of this consequence, read How Accurate Are Your Grades?)
Are you grading likewise many things? If y'all spend a lot of time chasing downwards missing assignments in order to get more scores in your gradebook, it could be that yous're grading too much. Some teachers only enter grades for major, summative tasks, like projects, major writing assignments, or exams. Everything else is considered formative and is either ungraded or given a very depression point value for completion, not graded for accuracy; it'southward practice. For teachers who are used to collecting lots of grades over a marking period, this volition exist a big shift, and if you work in a school where you're expected to enter grades into your system frequently, that shift volition be even more difficult. Convincing your students that ungraded do is worthwhile because it will assistance their functioning on the big things will be another hurdle. With all of that said, reducing the number of scored items will make your grades more than meaningful and cut fashion down on the time yous spend grading and managing late work.
What assumptions practise you lot make when students don't plough in work? I'grand embarrassed to admit that when I first started teaching, I causeless most students with missing work were merely unmotivated. Although this might be true for a pocket-sized portion of students, I no longer see this as the most likely reason. Students may have issues with executive function and could utilize some assistance developing systems for managing their fourth dimension and responsibilities. They may struggle with feet. Or they may not accept the resource—like time, infinite, and technology—to consistently complete work at home. More attention has been paid lately to the fact that homework is an equity outcome, and our policies around homework should reflect an understanding that all students don't take admission to the same resources once they leave schoolhouse for the day. Punitive policies that are meant to "motivate" students don't take whatever of these other issues into consideration, and then if your late work penalties don't seem to be working, it'southward likely that the root cause is something other than a lack of motivation.
What kind of grading system is realistic for you lot ? Any system you put in identify requires YOU to stay on tiptop of grading. It would be much harder to assign penalties, transport home reminders, or track lateness if you are backside on marking papers by a week, ii weeks, fifty-fifty a month. And so whatever you exercise, create a plan that you can actually keep up with.

Possible Solutions

1. Penalties

Many teachers give some sort of penalization to students for late piece of work. The thinking behind this is that without some sort of negative consequence, besides many students would look until the stop of the marking period to turn piece of work in, or in some cases, non plough it in at all. When work is turned in weeks or even months belatedly, it tin lose its value every bit a learning opportunity considering it is no longer aligned with what'due south happening in class. On top of that, teachers can terminate up with massive piles of assignments to form in the last few days of a marker period. This not merely places a heavy burden on teachers, it is far from an ideal condition for giving students the proficient quality feedback they should exist getting on these assignments.

Several types of penalties are most common:

Point Deductions
In many cases, teachers just reduce the grade as a effect of the lateness. Some teachers will accept off a certain number of points per 24-hour interval until they reach a cutoff date later on which the work will no longer exist accepted. I teacher who responded said he takes off 10 percentage for up to three days belatedly, then 30 pct for work submitted up to a week late; he says most students turn their work in earlier the outset iii days are over. Others take a standard amount that comes off for whatsoever late work (similar x percent), regardless of when it is turned in. This policy nevertheless rewards students for on-time work without completely de-motivating those who are late, builds in some accountability for lateness, and prevents the teacher from having to do a lot of mathematical juggling with a more than complex organization.

Parent Contact
Some teachers go along track of late work and contact parents if it is not turned in. This treats the late work as more than of a deport issue; the parent contact may exist in addition to or instead of taking points away.

No Feedback, No Re-Dos
The real value of homework and other smaller assignments should be the opportunity for feedback: Students do an assignment, they get timely teacher feedback, and they use that feedback to improve. In many cases, teachers allow students to re-do and resubmit assignments based on that feedback. So a logical consequence of late work could be the loss of that opportunity: Several teachers mentioned that their policy is to accept late piece of work for full credit, but just students who submit work on time volition receive feedback or the hazard to re-do it for a higher grade. Those who mitt in late work must take whatever score they become the first time around.

2. A Separate Work Habits Grade

In a lot of schools, especially those that use standards-based grading, a educatee's class on an assignment is a pure representation of their academic mastery; it does non reflect compliance in any fashion. So in these classrooms, if a student turns in practiced work, information technology's going to go a good grade even if information technology's handed in a month late.

Simply students still demand to larn how to manage their time. For that reason, many schools assign a separate grade for work habits. This might measure factors like adherence to deadlines, neatness, and following non-bookish guidelines like font sizes or using the right heading on a newspaper.

Although well-nigh teachers whose schools utilise this type of system will admit that students and parents don't take the piece of work habits grade as seriously as the academic course, they report being satisfied that student grades but reflect mastery of the content.
I school calls their work habits form a "behavior" grade, and although it doesn't impact GPA, students who don't accept a certain beliefs grade can't make honor curlicue, despite their bodily GPA.
Several teachers mentioned looking for patterns and using the separate course as a basis for conferences with parents, counselors, or other stakeholders. For nearly students, there's probably a strong correlation between work habits and academic achievement, and then separating the two could help students encounter that connection.
Some learning management systems volition flag assignments as late without necessarily taking points off. Although this does not automatically translate to a work habits grade, it indicates the lateness to students and parents without misrepresenting the academic accomplishment.

3. Homework Passes

Because things happen in real life that can throw anyone off course every at present and and so, some teachers offer passes students tin use to replace a missed assignment.

Most teachers only offering these passes to replace low-point assignments, not major ones, and they generally only offering one to three passes per marking period. Homework passes can usually only recover 5 to x percent of a pupil's overall course grade.
Other teachers have a policy of allowing students to drop 1 or two of their lowest scores in the gradebook. Again, this is typically done for smaller assignments and has the same net effect as a homework pass past allowing everyone to have a bad day or two.
One instructor gives "Next Class Passes" which let students i extra twenty-four hours to turn in work. At the end of every marker catamenia she gives actress credit points to students who notwithstanding have unused passes. She says that since she started doing this, she has had the lowest rate e'er of belatedly piece of work.

4. Extension Requests

Quite a few teachers require students to submit a written asking for a deadline extension rather than taking points off. With a arrangement similar this, every student turns something in on the due date, whether it'south the consignment itself or an extension asking.

Most extension requests ask students to explicate why they were unable to complete the assignment on time. This not simply gives the students a chance to reflect on their habits, it too invites the teacher to assistance students solve larger problems that might be getting in the way of their academic success.
Having students submit their requests via Google Forms reduces the need for newspaper and routes all requests to a single spreadsheet, which makes it easier for teachers to proceed rail of work that is late or needs to be regraded.
Other teachers use a similar system for times when students want to resubmit work for a new form.

five. Floating Deadlines

Rather than choosing a unmarried deadline for an consignment, some teachers assign a range of dates for students to submit piece of work. This flexibility allows students to plan their work around other life activities and responsibilities.

Some teachers offering an incentive to turn in work in the early function of the time frame, such as extra credit or faster feedback, and this helps to spread out the submissions more evenly.
Another variation on this arroyo is to assign a batch of piece of work for a whole week and ask students to get it in past Fri. This fashion, students get to manage when they get information technology washed.
Other names mentioned for this strategy were flexible deadlines, soft deadlines, and due windows.

6. Let Students Submit Work in Progress

Some digital platforms, like Google Classroom, allow students to "submit" assignments while they are still working on them. This allows teachers to see how far the student has gotten and address any issues that might be coming up. If your classroom is mostly paper-based, it's certainly possible to practice this kind of affair with paper as well, letting students plough in partially completed piece of work to demonstrate that an endeavour has been made and testify you where they might be stuck.

7. Give Late Work Full Credit

Some teachers take all late work with no punishment. Most of them agree that if the piece of work is important, and if we want students to do information technology, nosotros should let them hand it in whenever they get it done.

Some teachers fear this approach will crusade more students to stop doing the work or delay submission until the terminate of a marking catamenia, but teachers who like this approach say they were surprised past how little things changed when they stopped giving penalties: Most students continued to turn piece of work in more or less on time, and the same ones who were late under the old system were even so late nether the new ane. The large difference was that the teacher no longer had to spend time computing deductions or determining whether students had valid excuses; the work was but graded for mastery.
To requite students an incentive to actually turn the work in before the marking menses is over, some teachers will put a temporary zero in the gradebook as a placeholder until the consignment is turned in, at which point the zero is replaced with a course.
Here'southward a twist on the "no penalization" option: Some teachers don't take points off for late piece of work, just they limit the time frame when students tin can plow it in. Some will not have late work afterwards they have graded and returned an assignment; at that point it would be besides easy for students to copy off of the returned papers. Others will only have late work up until the cess for the unit of measurement, because the work leading up to that is meant to gear up for that assessment.

8. Other Preventative Measures

These strategies aren't necessarily a fashion to manage tardily work as much as they are meant to prevent it in the first place.

Include students in setting deadlines. When it comes to major assignments, take students help yous determine due dates. They may accept a better idea than you practice about other big events that are happening and assignments that have been given in other classes.
Cease assigning homework. Some teachers have stopped assigning homework entirely, recognizing that disparities at domicile make it an unfair measurement of bookish mastery. Instead, all meaningful work is done in form, where the instructor tin can monitor progress and give feedback equally needed. Long-term projects are done in class besides, so the teacher is aware of which students need more time and why.
Brand homework optional or self-selected. Non all students demand the aforementioned amount of exercise. Yous may be able to get your students to appraise their ain need for additional practice and assign that practise to themselves. Although this may sound far-fetched, in some classes, like this self-paced classroom, it actually works, because students know they volition be graded on a concluding cess, they get practiced at determining when they demand extra practice.

With then many different approaches to late piece of work, what'south articulate is that there are a lot of dissimilar schools of idea on grading and cess, so information technology's not a surprise that nosotros don't ever land on the best solution on the starting time effort. Experiment with different systems, talk to your colleagues, and be willing to try something new until you find something that works for you.