Every teacher is the same, or so I have heard by starting out with the idealistic attitude in that you will be changing student lives right and left, creating a huge impact, that all students will love you class/subject because you are so passionate about it, and they will do their work/homework. I like being a realist in turn as well, so I never thought that was actually going to happen, but I figured that students (or most) would do their homework and stay on track. This week proved me completely wrong...
The juniors have been working on a Junior Research Paper. This paper is a requirement for each student to pass before graduation, and they must pass Junior English. Luckily for the students, they can double dip (or so to speak) in my class. Major points for first quarter are the Junior Research Paper points. As I guide the students through this paper, they receive points at the check-offs. So the check-off points are: picking a topic, source pages (must have minimum of 5), graphic organizer (so basically outline to the outline) with thesis, finalized outline, formatted introduction with thesis, 2 pages typed, formatted with at least 2 citations of text, and then rough draft. By the time the rough draft rolls around on Wednesday the only thing I should have to correct or their peers is the last couple pages of text and the works cited page. The rest of the paper should be close to final. Last year when I was student teaching this paper was chaos, but this year it is going better. I can see a vast difference in student learning and how I am presenting/teaching the information. For the most part, students are understanding how to create a research paper. The complaints, mostly, is making them format the paper perfectly.
Well on Wednesday students were suppose to have the introduction with thesis completed. Out of about 100 students, only 5 turned it in. I was livid, to say the least, because they have had more than enough time in and out of class to write 4-6 sentences with a thesis statement. I was actually quite speechless, so it was dead silent in all three of my junior classes.
I know not every student will be turning in homework, but 5 out of 100. I asked my classes, after I calmed down, what the issue was. For a teacher, that should ring an alarm if they didn't turn in work, so questions such as: did I not give them ample time, did they not understand, am i not a good teacher. So the response to my question was: we just didn't do it.
So the next question I had to answer was should I punish all of the students. That brings up a lot more questions as well such as: do I fail them all zeros in the gradebook. In response, I will give up to half credit when they turn it in. The students already know I am serious about deadlines and homework, but I do not want to discourage students from doing the work because they want the points for what they do.
Luckily the next couple days, with my juniors, went better. I copied a good final Junior Research Paper and then created it into a bad copy for students to revise. This week students will be revising two peers papers, and normally they will just say "yeah, good job" and not actually revise. So, I created a template for them to follow and understand how to find what is actually wrong, or how to improve, a good/bad paper.
When I handed out the bad copy for the students to revise I was happy to hear, "This is a horrible paper!! Why did you give this to us?!" This made me realize that, indeed, I am doing a good job.
Idealistic? Not all the time, but they are great kids. And I know I am making a difference.
No comments:
Post a Comment