[N.B. These are taking for-ev-er to crank out, for whatever reason, so I’m changing the format a bit. If anybody misses the minute by minute breakdown, I’ll bring it back. I’m guessing it was only there for formality’s sake, though.]
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I’ve assigned homework once this semester. That was Geometry. In Algebra, I’m not sure I’ve assigned any. I rarely talk about this particular paragraph of my personal Manifesto du Education, simply because, unlike assessment reform, for example, this has always felt a bit disgraceful.
So here it is, and don’t expect this one to surface Whack-A-Mole-style like this again for a long time:
The carnival is over at la casa de Science Goddess. ยถ Dig the Tips for New Teachers by Right Wing Prof. I find nothing quite as altruistic as a veteran teacher helping a noob through those wobbly early years. It’s a strong list, though I find the frequent cynicism towards teacher education dispiriting. (So, seriously, everyone’s program pushed sappy social justice and hand-holding cultural sensitivity in lieu of methodology? Really? Without my own program, I wouldn’t be an eighth the teacher I am now. Let’s talk about this sometime.) ยถ Mr. Chips brings a triple feature of Educator’s Educators Gone Wild and then offers “the job gets to some people” as a rationale for all the educator-related debauchery in his area. Seems too cheap, esp. when so many teachers manage the load without (e.g.) dealing crystal meth but, to be fair, this is only my third year. Give me a couple more of this and I’ll be staring back at you from a post office wall.รย ¶ [Update: Liz busted my chops for excessive apostrophizing.]
We’re evaluating expressions. Plug x = 7 into 5x – 3 and see what comes out the other end, that sort of thing. Instruction has the tendency here to get really rote really fast. Needless to say, worksheets abound for this unit.
So instead we spent some time in the Half Plus Seven function, for which no Wikipedia entry exists, and which therefore deserves a quick explanation:
Choose any of your sections. Now, before you hand out your next objective assessment, write down a quick prediction of every student’s exam grade.
Grade them and compare the results.
Deduct points for every score you mis-predicted, one point for every letter grade you flopped. For instance, if you guessed James would score a B and he flunked, deduct three points. You may not deduct four points; you may only sock yourself in the nose.
There is no winning in this game, there is only less losing.
Of the 27 students who took Wednesday’s concept quiz,
Questions of what all this means, what constitutes a good score (-30 does not, frankly), whether a good score off this metric should even matter to teachers, and, morally, what it means for the teacher to predict a failing grade, are left as exercises to the reader, who, the writer hopes, won’t be stingy with commentary.
I never said it was a fun game.
(May as well officialize it. If you teach math, consider yourself memed.)