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Freudian when you leave the stuff you really need to work on at school.
But before I pass out, I thought I would mention my Quality Work grade. I mentioned how I did group work in a previous entry, but I don't think I explained my Quality Work grade.
First, keep in mind that I teach middle school, and they are still learning to get mechanics right and to remember to put a period at the end of a sentence. A paper without mechanics is a nightmare to grade and shoddy work at that. But I refuse to take points off their Latin grade for shoddy work. I have penalized a kid's demonstration of his comprehension of Latin because he couldn't spell to save his life. Not any more.
They have 1 homework grade that is the Quality Work grade. It hardly impacts their average but it stands there among the other grades looking important. It looks accountable and students are aware of it. The QW grade starts at 100 and points are subtracted.
I have thorough instructions for what I want a paper to look like (on a handout) and go over it with a student. If the heading, job title, main title, punctuation, capitalization, etc, is missing, then it's -1. So, if a kid didn't punctuate 8 sentences and misspelled two more words, he has a -10 QW. His LATIN could still be a 100%. But now his QW is a 90. If on the next paper he misses 4 more periods, then the QW drops to an 86.
In my gradebook I skip lines (when I can) between names. Therefore, when I record grades for an assignment, if it has a QW grade to it, I list that below (in ink) and then subtract the appropriate amount of points from the QW grade, which I keep in Latin.
The kids like this because it seems FAIR. I keep the main focus on LEARNING LATIN and how well they are doing WITH THE LATIN, not that they are brainless wonders failing to punctuate!!!
And if the jobs are being performed correctly, especially the lictor (see previous entry) whose job it is to remind his group periodically to check they they have all been using periods and capitalizing words, etc, then the QW grades in general stay high. And most of all, the students do truly try to improve the quality of their work--WHICH MEANS IT IS MUCH EASIER AND MUCH FASTER TO GRADE!!!!
It's so worth the effort to have a system....
But before I pass out, I thought I would mention my Quality Work grade. I mentioned how I did group work in a previous entry, but I don't think I explained my Quality Work grade.
First, keep in mind that I teach middle school, and they are still learning to get mechanics right and to remember to put a period at the end of a sentence. A paper without mechanics is a nightmare to grade and shoddy work at that. But I refuse to take points off their Latin grade for shoddy work. I have penalized a kid's demonstration of his comprehension of Latin because he couldn't spell to save his life. Not any more.
They have 1 homework grade that is the Quality Work grade. It hardly impacts their average but it stands there among the other grades looking important. It looks accountable and students are aware of it. The QW grade starts at 100 and points are subtracted.
I have thorough instructions for what I want a paper to look like (on a handout) and go over it with a student. If the heading, job title, main title, punctuation, capitalization, etc, is missing, then it's -1. So, if a kid didn't punctuate 8 sentences and misspelled two more words, he has a -10 QW. His LATIN could still be a 100%. But now his QW is a 90. If on the next paper he misses 4 more periods, then the QW drops to an 86.
In my gradebook I skip lines (when I can) between names. Therefore, when I record grades for an assignment, if it has a QW grade to it, I list that below (in ink) and then subtract the appropriate amount of points from the QW grade, which I keep in Latin.
The kids like this because it seems FAIR. I keep the main focus on LEARNING LATIN and how well they are doing WITH THE LATIN, not that they are brainless wonders failing to punctuate!!!
And if the jobs are being performed correctly, especially the lictor (see previous entry) whose job it is to remind his group periodically to check they they have all been using periods and capitalizing words, etc, then the QW grades in general stay high. And most of all, the students do truly try to improve the quality of their work--WHICH MEANS IT IS MUCH EASIER AND MUCH FASTER TO GRADE!!!!
It's so worth the effort to have a system....
