I gave my first quiz today on Chapter 18, sections 1-4. It shouldn't have been difficult...I sent all of the students their lessons in advance, I asked them questions to monitor comprehension, and because I sent the notes out too late last night, I printed out the outlines for all the students. I went over everything in detail and pointed out the most important information. As if that weren't enough, I told them that their quiz was open notes, and I was up at 3:30 this morning making sure that the quiz only covered what I covered in class. A lot of the grades were awful. In Second Block there were 4 A's, 5 B's, 6 D's, and 8 F's. In Fourth Block there were 4 A's, 10 B's, 6 C's, 2 D's, and 1 F. What the heck! I mean, I know I learn from my experience in second block, but I don't do THAT much better! The class dynamics are quite different from block to block...fourth block is easier to deal with (except for M.P., who I'm going to have to work on...L.N. isn't an issue for the most part, since she's only been in 4th block something like 5 times since the beginning of the semester). I don't think it's all me though...Mrs. F gave the students a take-home test last weekend and the grade spread was quite similar, even with her teaching most of the classes. I'm kind of at a loss...I'm trying to differentiate by incorporating video and graphics and allowing them to take advantage of their individual talents whenever possible, but it's just not working as well as I'd like. I'm looking forward to seeing the students' bell work entry from yesterday, when I asked them if there's anything they think I should do differently. I should get some good feedback from that.
I took third block today too. It was fun and we had some good interactions. the preparation is pretty heavy duty, though, given my love of examples...I tend to spend a lot of time hunting down the "perfect" pictures/images for my PowerPoints.
Yuck, it's 7:37 and I haven't even eaten dinner yet. I still have so much left to do though. I think I'll add onto my AP HUGE lesson for tomorrow...I need more good discussion questions. They're a fun bunch of kids and I'm pretty sure that we can get something going.
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"You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink..."
ReplyDeleteI can think of many times when I would spoon-feed my students everything they neededed for a quiz or a test and they would still do miserably. Keep fighting the good fight. SOme of that is beyond your control, and a wide grade distribution can be a good thing, because it differentiates the kids who are trying from those who aren't making a serious effort.
Student teaching is a very time-consuming endeavor, try to maintain as much balance as you can (go do something fun on the weekend and do not think about school).
Your comments show a degree of reflection that is admirable, keep it up.
Dr. OB
Thank you!
ReplyDeleteI felt so much better after I saw the fourth block's scores...Second block is a real challenge. A bunch of the students are great, but there are some who just don't care. I went back through the tests and made some small adjustments (i.e., giving full credit for one of the fill-in-the-blanks if the students said "trust" [cases] instead of "anti-trust"~I just made a note by their answer). After I entered the grades, STI calculated that the class average was 35.74 for second block and 39.98 for fourth. It almost makes me wonder if some kind of tracking is involved. Not that it consoles me that much...I have to find a way to get through to them before I'm done. I returned and reviewed the quiz this morning and clarified some of the often-missed answers, so at least they'll have a better chance of getting the questions right when I ask them again on the Chapters 18-19 test next week. I'm also going to spend some time reviewing before the test.
I know I can't keep up this pace forever, but I don't want to let my students down. My grade is important, but theirs is my first priority. I know I need to put in some "me time" so that I can be at my best for them, but it's something that I'm still working on balancing.